Man behind fake-degree school gone missing

By Amelia Tan & Goh Yi Han

THE man behind two schools which peddled fake degrees has gone missing.
A Straits Times check showed that Mr Benny Yap Chee Mun, 39, had changed his address on Monday, a day before the Education Ministry ordered his Brookes Business School to close.
But when reporters visited the five-room flat in Sengkang listed as his new address yesterday, no one answered the door.

My view:

How does the reporter get his new address??? Sengkang is not at his standard...

Recognition of Foreign Degrees in Singapore

For graduate positions, degrees from universities accredited by the home government of the country where the university is located will be considered for appointment into the Public Service. This applies to degrees obtained full-time or part time, through distance-learning or twinning programmes, etc. Professional qualifications such as law and accountancy from foreign institutions also need to be recognised by the relevant professional body in Singapore to be considered for appointment.

If you wish to check on the accreditation status of your degree, you can refer to relevant guidebooks such as the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook, or call the relevant education centres or professional bodies. A list of guidebooks, education centres and professional bodies can be found at "Resource - Entry Qualifications" within our website.

The Public Service does not solely look at academic qualification when choosing candidates. We also take into account other important factors such as relevant work experience, past performance (e.g. track records), as well as personal attributes like leadership abilities. The relative emphasis on each factor and the criteria set depends on the nature and level of the job, and only the candidate who best fits the overall requirements of the job will be recruited.

Source: https://app.vog.gov.sg/StaticContent/FAQ.aspx

My suggestion:

Student should visit the following website to do their research,

Singapore MOE, list of Extenal Degrees - http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/private-education/edp-list/

ACU, list of Members in Association of Commonwealth Universities - http://www.acu.ac.uk/cgi-bin/cudos/subscribers.pl

Guardian, UK Education - http://www.guardian.co.uk/education

Fake degree peddler's second school to close too

Ministry revokes registration of Stamford Global Learning Centre.
-ST Thu, Jul 16, 2009
The Straits Times
By Amelia Tan & Corrie Tan

A SECOND private school run by a man who peddled fake degrees has been ordered to close.
In a statement yesterday, the Education Ministry (MOE) said it had revoked the registration of Stamford Global Learning Centre, which has about 40 students and is also operated by Mr Benny Yap Chee Mun.

The order came a day after another school owned by Mr Yap, Brookes Business School, was ordered to close.

Students lured by attractive deal

BROOKES Business School offered something which many students found too good to refuse - a degree in a year for $12,000, and from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) no less.

But the scam was exposed by The Straits Times in a report last month.

Students were lured by the fact that the school was registered with the Education Ministry and had the CaseTrust quality mark.

In addition to RMIT degrees, it offered bachelor of business qualifications from a Brookes University - which students said they were told was based in Truro city in Cornwall, Britain - the University of Wales and the University of Ballarat in Australia.

My View:
Student should find out about the history of the school before they make their dicision. There are other schools out there doing the same thing. So why take the risk? Choose a bigger private school with good track records - SIM, PSB, Kaplan, MDIS, Informatics, etc.

Informatics Education auditor raises going concern issue

Business Times - 11 July 2009

By ONG BOON KIAT

THE auditor of Informatics Education has drawn attention to issues which may cast 'significant doubt' about the group's and company's ability to continue as going concerns.

Ernst & Young LLP issued an unqualified audit opinion on the Singapore-listed education group's financial statement for the year ended March 31, 2009. The auditor noted that the group's current and total liabilities exceeded its current and total assets by $2.67 million and $628,000 respectively.

'These factors indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the group's and company's ability to continue as a going concern,' reported Ernst & Young.
The ability of the group and company to meet their financial obligations and to continue as going concerns depend on their generating profit and sufficient positive cash flow from their operations, the auditor added.

For the full year ended March 31, 2009, Informatics posted a net profit of $4.4 million against a net loss of $3.6 million a year ago.

Informatics was placed on the SGX watch list on March 4 this year. Companies are put on the watch list if they suffer pre-tax losses for three straight fiscal years and their average daily market capitalisation for the past 120 trading days dips below $40 million.
Companies face possible delisting if they do not satisfy the criteria for removal from the watch list within 24 months.

Last July, the group's auditors flagged Informatics over going concern issues, citing its net loss of $3.6 million for FY2008, as well as its net liability position.

My view:

1. It is true that Informatics has some on going concerns on the company's performance, generating profit, company's liabilities and positive cash flow in the past.

2. Generating profit - Informatics was put on the SGX watch list due to financial losses in the past 3 years. On the positive sides, Informatics is finally in the black with $4.4 million for the first time after 5 years.

3. Company's liabilities - The total liabilities exceeded its current and total assets by $2.67 million but what was not stated in bold was that the exceeding was half due to liabilities of school fees received in advance of $16.9 million.

4. Positive cash flow - Informatics has $26 million cash in hand and zero borrowing.

I felt that it is merely a whistle blower exercise by the press to inform the public on facts about the company so that they can make a better decision when they purchase Informatics' stocks.