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The quality mark scheme was started three years ago to encourage the private education industry to raise its standards, just as Singapore set in motion its plan to build an education hub hosting 150,000 students by 2015. It came in the face of mounting complaints against private schools - over refunds of tuition fees and academic standards, among other things. Up till then, private schools needed only to register themselves with the Education Ministry to open for business. Industry watchers said that was not adequate to ensure standards, as all that registration entailed was that the relevant building and fire codes are met, that the proposed subjects and syllabus seem appropriate, and that there are qualified teachers. Schools could also apply to attain the Singapore Quality Class certification, offered by Spring Singapore, but that scheme too came under fire for looking only at management processes and results, and not academic measures such as the quality of teaching and course content. Besides, as schools were not required to have the quality mark, very few aimed for it. The Case scheme subjected schools to more regulation which schools had to comply with if they wanted to enrol foreign students. The operators will have to first subscribe to a scheme to protect their students' fees in the event that the schools fold. Then they are subject to checks on their cancellation and refund policies, accuracy of information given to students and their dispute-resolution procedures. According to Case, even after a school wins the trust mark, its officers conduct surprise checks to ensure that standards are kept up. Case also hires consultants who pose as 'mystery shoppers' inquiring about courses and quality of teaching. Which then raises the question: How did the dozen or so schools uncovered by The Straits Times pass scrutiny? A simple check with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation in the United States would have revealed if the likes of Paramount University of Technology have proper accreditation. Checking on West Coast University would have been more difficult as there is an accredited university with the same name. But all it took was drilling further into the 'West Coast University' link provided by Boston International School on its website, to find out that it is accredited by an agency in the South Pacific islands. Same for the teachers' qualifications - some simple checks are enough to raise questions about their credibility and credentials. And how did schools offering English courses get away with websites riddled with grammatical errors? Case said its staff check the premises of schools, but anybody walking past some of these schools would ask if they were indeed schools. Students, including foreigners, should also shoulder part of the blame, as most of them seem not to have done the basic checks on whether the overseas institutions are accredited. The authorities appear to have woken up to the realisation that the job of vetting private schools should go to education experts. The Education Ministry last year announced that it was looking at academic accreditation for private schools, even though it admitted that it was a complex matter as there were over 1,000 private schools. Complex or not, the ministry needs to come up with a scheme quickly, to secure Singapore's reputation as a credible place to study. And to ensure that Singapore's plans to grow an education hub are not to be scuppered.
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