Greenwich School of Management

(asked on 13th November 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education has raised any concerns about the validation of degrees offered by Greenwich School of Management.


Answered by
Viscount Younger of Leckie Portrait
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 27th November 2017

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) investigates concerns about standards, quality and the information that providers make available in relation to their higher education provision. Where QAA identifies evidence of systemic concerns these issues may be investigated through a focused concerns investigation, a Higher Education Review (Alternative Provider) (HER (AP)) or a provider’s annual quality monitoring visit.

QAA does not disclose the names of providers that are currently the subject of QAA concerns activity, or the nature or those concerns but, where these lead to a concerns investigation, the outcomes from this activity will be published on the QAA website once QAA has concluded its investigations.

Following concerns received by the Department in May 2015, including around the management of the college's relationship with its awarding body, QAA initiated a full investigation into Greenwich School of Management. This took place from 21 to 22 September 2015. Attached is the QAA’s report and statement on these concerns. This is published on the QAA website and can be found at: http://www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews-and-reports/provider?UKPRN=10007937#.Wg8JlWxLHZs.

The department takes allegations of fraud and malpractice extremely seriously and we are grateful to BBC Panorama for bringing the allegations against Greenwich School of Management to our attention. Working with stakeholders, we will take robust action where abuses of the system are evident.

Through the HER (AP) process, QAA also routinely considers how validation arrangements are effectively managed and overseen by the degree-awarding body, ensuring that robust processes are in place to secure the quality of student learning opportunities, irrespective of where these take place or who provides them.

An outcomes report from the Greenwich School of Management’s recent HER (AP) is due to be published in December 2017.

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