Douglas College in China - Dubious Degree's

[TheKingdom2000]

Global News | Dubious degree
23 min video in the link above. (not sure how to embed it)

BC’s Douglas College is a Canadian institution with campuses in China offering courses in finance and business to hundreds of Chinese students. But recently, some serious questions have been raised about the integrity of the international joint program.

“It was outright fraud,” said Robert Buller, a former Dean of Commerce and Business Administration at the college.

Buller and two other former teachers are speaking out, saying that Canadian credentials were given to unqualified students in China. Many of the students barely understand English, even after graduating, they say.

Former teacher Richard Thwaites taught finance at Douglas College in China for five years. He says that in one case, he failed 83 of the 115 students during a finance test. But he told 16x9 that a Chinese teaching assistant reversed all but one of the failed grades.

“In Chinese post-secondary education, there’s a culture, there’s a mentality, there’s a belief that every student passes. . . . I have had Chinese faculty members tell me that they have been ordered to pass the students,” he says.

The former Douglas staff members 16x9 spoke to say the college administration knew about the problem but has done nothing for years. Buller showed 16x9 documented proof, what he called registrar’s records of doctored grades, that he says he took to the president of Douglas College, Scott McAlpine.

“The president [McAlpine] looked only at the first sheet and then terminated the meeting . . . He got up from the meeting table, walked away and said to me that he needed plausible deniability. And he wanted to see and hear nothing,” says Buller.

But when 16x9 asked McAlpine about the meeting, he said he had no memory of it.

“I have not seen that document to my recollection,” he says. “If there is academic fraud, on any scale, we need to get to the bottom of this and we need to investigate it. I do not have that information and that data at this time.”

Buller says it’s troubling to him that unqualified students are graduating and that Chinese instructors are changing the grades of struggling students.

“Unfortunately it’s not one or two students… It’s when you see a whole row of questionable entries that you say, somehow students that are absolutely not qualified are being allowed to graduate, and it should be very, very worrisome.”

Two weeks after 16x9 interviewed McAlpine, Douglas College announced that it was ordering an independent review of its teaching program in China.

Watch 16x9 Saturday at 7pm for the full investigation into what some are calling dubious Canadian degrees handed out in China.


Read it on Global News: Global News | Dubious degree

TLDR:
Douglas College sets up shop in Shanghai
Policy is "All students will pass, eventually"
Students would still pass and get certificates/degrees even though they failed all or most exams.

One example;
Professor failed 83/115 students, Chinese TA's reversed the grades and passed 82/83 of the failed students.

[Razgriz]

If you can't understand English, why strive for a English education first.
Not sayin they shouldnt be entitled to the education..but learn the language first

good read though

[RRxtar]

and we just had that thread last week where people were complaining that its not fair that degrees from chinese universities need to be upgraded to be recognized in canada. degrees from canadian colleges in china arent even any good!!

[Glove]

not like you can do shit with anything from douglas college anyway

[SpuGen]

“In Chinese post-secondary education, there’s a culture, there’s a mentality, there’s a belief that every student passes. . . . I have had Chinese faculty members tell me that they have been ordered to pass the students,” he says.

Who the fuck told him that?
Does he actually have any idea how competitive schools are in China?
Excluding renn sport/hyde of course. He owns all of the schools in China.

[twitchyzero]

off-topic but douglas college's new logo is

[BaoTurbo]

Originally Posted by Glove

not like you can do shit with anything from douglas college anyway

Still counts as a credential. It adds to some competition on the international job market. I know in the end the students that made it through barely and didn't learn much will fail at life further down the road, but having said this, making them pass is more likely to screw them over.

Student enters Douglas College presuming they did not do well in High school. Enters Douglas and slacks off or tries but the fact that not having any English backround, it's going to be an uphill climb. Student fails. Then gets a pass from the TA's making them feel like they have accomplished something and finished education. Enters the workforce and people will either laugh at their credentials or find out how much they have actually learned in post secondary.

I don't think this was a good idea actually unless Douglas was already expecting this

[niu99]

this is absolutely disgusting. douglas college needs to immediately end partnerships with the chinese schools. but its too late the damages have been done. Douglas college degree is now worthless.

and remember sfu chinese students selling waitinglist and past exams? we can't let them cheat through our canadian education system. they can do that back home but not here.

[pastarocket]

Originally Posted by niu99

this is absolutely disgusting. douglas college needs to immediately end partnerships with the chinese schools. but its too late the damages have been done. Douglas college degree is now worthless.

and remember sfu chinese students selling waitinglist and past exams? we can't let them cheat through our canadian education system. they can do that back home but not here.

+1. Chinese international students who cheat in order to earn a university degree in Canada must be punished severely by the institutions. What happened to integrity?

[FerrariEnzo]

lol get a Canadian degree but cant speak english...

[Meowjin]

more info on the SFU thing?

[Geoc]

If I was ever going to be a HR manager, the first thing I would do in a interview is make the applicant read 'the cat in the hat' out loud to me.

If they're gonna waste my time, at least it's going be entertaining.

[maxxxboost]

I attend Douglas College
I was pissed that this happened when it aired on CTV last week. Not as pissed as some of the faculty at Douglas College. How some can ruin it all for the others. Reputation down the drain.

[impulse777]

Originally Posted by Geoc

If I was ever going to be a HR manager, the first thing I would do in a interview is make the applicant read 'the cat in the hat' out loud to me.

If they're gonna waste my time, at least it's going be entertaining.

^ Dak'a'en hatno laubou dadt, ting1 ting2

[GLOW]

you can buy a DL, guess this was only a matter of time too...
they can advertise that degree in china by showing a roll of toilet paper

[2damaxmr2]

I ror'd.

[impactX]

Originally Posted by maxxxboost

I attend Douglas College
I was pissed that this happened when it aired on CTV last week. Not as pissed as some of the faculty at Douglas College. How some can ruin it all for the others. Reputation down the drain.

Yeah... I feel bad for the the Douglas graduates from Canada. Even if the allegations aren't true, the damage is already done.

[Culture_Vulture]

It's sad and disgusting to hear about this.
I spent a couple of semesters at Douglas College and I found a bunch of instructors that had nothing but respect for academia. Some of the most inspiring and most opinionated/educated profs I've had are from DC.

I honestly hope none of them had affiliations, or even knew of the scums operating in China.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by Geoc

If I was ever going to be a HR manager, the first thing I would do in a interview is make the applicant read 'the cat in the hat' out loud to me.

If they're gonna waste my time, at least it's going be entertaining.

I read a few Dr. Seuss books to my 3 year old, and damn, those books are annoying!!

[taylor192]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

off-topic but douglas college's new logo is

This is how I read it:

[taylor192]

Originally Posted by niu99

and remember sfu chinese students selling waitinglist and past exams? we can't let them cheat through our canadian education system. they can do that back home but not here.

waitinglist?

First let me say I don't condone outright blatant cheating, yet I do not consider studying past material cheating. I have no problem paying for past exams, and have as our engineering society (Carleton U) kept old exams around to photocopy for a small price. If teachers are too lazy to make their exams very different than years prior, then it is their mistake to think students are not ingenious enough to find them to study from. I had one prof that even handed out last years exam as study material.

The best thing I did was make friends with a 3rd year student during my first week at Carleton. He gave me all his old material. He grades were not stellar (~C student) yet having the material ahead of time and knowing what to expect was priceless.

Post secondary education is not about learning, its about learning how to learn. I learned that in my field (engineering) almost everything has been done before, so its less about learning to do something the first time from scratch, and more about studying how its been done before and learning to adapt it to what you're currently doing.

[optiblue]

Some students from China at UBC have high end tutors that use materials that end up being very close to or even identical to the actual midterm/final. They get high marks while actually "studying," but does that make it any better? The corruption begins!
Posted via RS Mobile

[GLOW]

yep, all about resource management and networking. best real life skills i got during my time in school.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by taylor192

Post secondary education is not about learning, its about learning how to learn. I learned that in my field (engineering) almost everything has been done before, so its less about learning to do something the first time from scratch, and more about studying how its been done before and learning to adapt it to what you're currently doing.

Quoted for truth.

You're probably not going to differentiate a function, balance a chemical equation, or write a history essay in your job, but you'll need analytical and communication skills.

[wouwou]

Originally Posted by SpuGen

Who the fuck told him that?
Does he actually have any idea how competitive schools are in China?
Excluding renn sport/hyde of course. He owns all of the schools in China.

Actually the competitive part ends when you get in.

My friends are telling me similar stories, that it's actually REALLY hard to fail a course