Loopholes and Learning Centres

Reselling is a growing trend within ODL.    Typically, a reseller buys a course from another provider and then sells it on, at a price below, or above, the original.    The argument, the assumption, is that, between them, they will sell more courses than they could manage on their own, and both will make money.

Details, who offers support, or who the learner thinks their relationship is with, vary from case to case.    That’s one reason why ODL QC has some difficulty with resellers;   we can accredited them, but there are lots of extra safeguards that have to be in place before we can.

Another modern fashion is for learning centres;   centres which offer facilities for learning, but little else.    Like resellers, many don’t originate courses;   rather, they buy in courses from other providers: indeed, if a course is wholly online, they may play no part in the relationship between the provider and the learner;   all the centre is offering is access to a desk, a computer and a toilet.    After that, it’s up to you.

All this sounds fair enough.    So where’s the snag?

Well, some see it as not so much a snag, but an opportunity.    New visa requirements in the UK for students place stringent requirements on learning;   regular attendance, study hours undertaken, qualifications worked towards, and so on, all designed to ensure that only real learners can come into the UK, and that they are really learning.

So here’s an idea.    Suppose you’re a properly accredited face-to-face college or university, but one whose UK student numbers are dropping off.    No sweat.    You’ve got the space, the desk and the toilets, if not the computers.    So, buy in a few DL courses, enrol a few foreign student and let them get on with it.    Better still, let them buy their own courses direct from the provider.    That way you have none of the bother of providing either materials or support (other than the odd light bulb and toilet roll)

It's a bit like opening a restaurant but saying to customers "bring your own food and wine, we'll just provide the premises".    That's not illegal.    Nor is it necessarily "bad practice";   bring-your-own-bottle restaurants have been commonplace for years.

Of course, it will depend on how it is sold, and what promises are made.    Whether you are able to call such an establishment a "restaurant" or not is arguably a matter of semantics.    But if there are other customers in the next alcove paying for food prepared on the premises, even that objection looks hard to maintain.

So they (the students) get the visas.    You get more backsides on seats with little or no effort or educational input on your part.    Nice little earner.

And one which has not gone unnoticed.    I’ve heard rumours of one college, at least, that’s trying it out.

So, how will the relevant authorities respond?    A welcome extension of learning provision?    An innovative way to meet a market need?    New opportunities for ODL providers?

Or an loophole to be plugged;   an exploitation to be eradicated;   a scam to sell visas, not education?

Watch this space.

16th January, 2009
Source: Quodlibs 323

Recent Articles

If at First you don't Succeed ...
09 February 2009

Sleep and Sadness as the Routes to Success
06 February 2009

Avoiding the S-Word
16 January 2009

Loopholes and Learning Centres
16 January 2009

Drugs
12 January 2009

Leftover Issues
12 January 2009

Adults Only?
17 December 2008