Blacklisted college says no to refund request

By Wang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-18 09:32

A Sino-Singapore college has angered students by denying withdrawal requests after it lost its qualified status from the Beijing education authority.

A 21-year-old freshman Qiu Chupeng from Beijing Huaxia Management College said his formal application, sent on Nov 10 to end his studies and receive a tuition refund, had been turned down.

He claimed to have made the application after learning that the Beijing education commission had blacklisted his school.

Another 30 of his classmates have applied to leave but were also denied, he added.

In a new regulation released by the commission on Nov 4, private schools must accept voluntary withdrawals from students and refund tuition fees within 5 days if the school fails to meet commitments promised in its advertisements.

A student at the school surnamed Zhang from Jiangsu province told METRO that pamphlets from the school said students could receive certification from both the Beijing Huaxia Management College and the Huaxia School of Management in Singapore.

However, on April 21, Beijing municipal education commission blacklisted 22 Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutions for failing verification on its official website.

The schools, which include the Beijing Huaxia Management College, were banned from recruiting students for a year. All diplomas awarded are no longer recognized by the educational authority.

The authority's website stated that the reason why the college failed verification was that their educational activities are no longer linked with the Singapore college.

A worker in the admission office of the college surnamed Hao said they had recruited 600 students this year and were planning to enroll another 1,000 next year.

She also promised that the school diplomas were qualified and every student had a guaranteed job.

An official surnamed Li at the division of international cooperation with the Beijing municipal education commission said Tuesday they had heard about the complaints from students and parents and were talking with the college.

She added the college might be turned into a private Chines one and lose its right to issue nationally accredited diplomas.