Doubts cast over Nottingham’s MBA degree

 http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Soc/soc.culture.malaysia/2006-01/msg01298.html

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Doubts cast over Nottingham?s MBA degree - Malaysiakini
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Doubts cast over Nottingham?s MBA degree
Claudia Theophilus Jan 25, 06 11:30am

exclusive A storm of controversy is gathering at Nottingham University
Malaysia Campus (UNMC) over the management and delivery of its
world-renowned masters in business administration (MBA) programme.

Four months after its grand opening, the campus situated in Semenyih, about
40 minutes drive south of Kuala Lumpur, has been accused of an internal
cover-up to prevent possible revocation of its MBA accreditation.

It is learnt that the university has been given 12 months to put its house
in order over alleged discrepancy in the marking scheme which may have
pulled down the overall grades of MBA students.

Failure to meet the conditions stipulated could jeopardise the renewal -
required every five years - of accreditation. This is awarded by the
Association of MBAs (AMBA), the global guardian of the quality of such
programmes.

Frustrated with indifference to concerns raised by lecturers and students,
former faculty member Dr Geoffrey Williams filed two complaints with the
AMBA in March and November last year.

The latest dossier contains 170 pages of claims and records of staff
meetings held last year. Copies of the complaints brief and related
correspondence were made available to malaysiakini.

UNMC submitted its response this morning denying all allegations, while
AMBA has yet to reply to questions sent yesterday.

Directive issued

Williams, 36, who quit his post because of ?victimisation?, said he is
appalled with the extent of the attempted cover-up. He had joined
Nottingham University in 2003.

In March last year, he informed the AMBA of a university directive to
destroy documents and the electronic trail pertaining to the management and
delivery of the MBA programme.

Met in Kuala Lumpur recently, Williams, said AMBA had acknowledged his
complaint via e-mail with an assurance that a probe would be conducted.

?In preparation for the AMBA visit (last) December, there were a number of
instructions to the faculty to destroy documents and to delete e-mails
about the delivery of programmes, especially the MBA, which may prove
embarrassing during the assessment,? he told malaysiakini.

?Faculty members were approached directly to suggest names of students who
would be supportive of the school with a view to recommending them for
interview, and to identify those who may be critical with a view to keeping
them away from the assessors.?

According to a letter dated Nov 29 to students, Williams had explained that
the discrepancy was due to a more lenient marking scheme used by lecturers
in the UK, of which UNMC faculty members had been unaware.

?I should stress that none of the lecturers have done anything wrong. We
applied the normal marks scheme in good faith, unaware that a more lenient
marks scheme was being applied by others, especially lecturers in the UK.?

He said a comparison of marks between 1st and 2nd semester exams in the UK
and Malaysia revealed a difference significant enough to have affected the
final results.

?This means that four out of six 1st semester modules for the MBA could
have been affected by procedural irregularities which may have caused
disadvantage to some students.

?It is likely that a number of students who had to re-sit 1st semester
exams may not have to do so if the more lenient scheme had been applied,
since their marks may have been high enough to pass the first time,? he
explained during the interview.

Last weekend, the university held its convocation ceremony. A preview of
its MBA programme had been held the previous week.

?Concerns dismissed?

Williams, who started teaching in 1992 at the London Business School before
moving to Oxford University, feared that the discrepancy may have caused
good students to miss an overall distinction or to pass the examination.

?This is pretty scandalous, given that the MBA is Nottingham University
Business School?s flagship and a world-renowned programme. It is the
university?s most important programme.

?The administration believes the quality in UNMC is not up to standard.
This was made clear when the business school denied allegations raised by
the students.?

He said the discrepancy in marking was identified at an Exam Board meeting
on Nov 11 but the university had dismissed the concerns as unfounded and
blamed the students for under-performing instead.

?This matter is clearly of public interest especially since Malaysian
universities have been under a lot of criticism recently. It?s clear that
UK universities here are no better.?
The students, he said, have also received a note about their marks from the
business school director in the UK instead of from his Malaysian
counterpart.

?Despite the statistics we were provided with, he has simply denied that
there is a problem here. Students will therefore not be able to appeal the
marks.

?One of the main reasons for this is that the Business School will have an
accreditation visit next week from the AMBA and they do not want student
appeals affecting this outcome. So, they have refused to allow students to
appeal.?

The AMBA accreditation is renewable every five years at a cost of
20,000-30,000 pounds sterling.

About 100 students are enrolled for the full-time MBA course offered at
about RM44,500 plus extra charges a year.

Disposal of appeals delayed

In his letter, Williams urged students to appeal against their marks backed
by the evidence gathered by him and marketing and strategy associate
professor Dr John Zinkin which ?provides strong grounds for an appeal and a
re-assessment of marks?.

It is learnt that several appeals are pending, but that deliberations were
delayed by the convocation ceremony.

?Upon the filing of an appeal, the university has 10 days to decide but in
this case it has been more than a month now with no outcome,? Williams
said.

He also alleged that faculty dean Prof Eduard Bomhoff had failed to fulfil
his promise to raise the matter with the Final Exam Board in the UK.

In an e-mail to students last month, he said UK Business School director
Prof Alistair Bruce had dismissed his allegations of procedural
irregularities as ?unfounded? based on investigations.

?I am assured by Mr Scott Goddard, director of postgraduate programmes and
chair of the Examination Board in Nottingham which considered these
programmes, that the issues raised by Dr Williams were fully factored into
deliberations in the board,? reads a copy of the e-mail.

?The publication of results is indicative of the fact that the external
examiners for these programmes were satisfied with the way in which
procedures were followed, issues were considered and outcomes were
decided.?

It is learnt that officials from the AMBA were here early last month on a
three-day visit to the campus. Another visit is due in the next few weeks.

The UNMC, designed as a boutique campus, is the first of two outside of the
UK. The other is in Ningbo, China.

The RM120 million purpose-built complex sits on a 40-hectare site and
boasts an international student population of 1,300 from 30 countries.

On Sept 26, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak officiated at the
opening of the campus in Jalan Semenyih-Broga, accompanied by Selangor
Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.

Tomorrow: Brain drain in the business school

Nottingham honours Zeti
03:27pm Sat Jan 21, 2006

Target - 100,000 foreign students by 2010
02:32pm Tue Sep 27, 2005

Police harass Broga ?welcome? party for PM
09:01pm Mon Sep 26, 2005


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