China won't lift warning on Canada's private colleges
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The warning remains even after BC reassured China that the province would bring in new legislations to target education scams.
The provocative stance comes as Canadian agencies and companies are marketing the country abroad as an attractive place for foreign students to study as part of a campaign to "internationalize" education institutions in Canada.
"Let me say this, to move forward, the governments have to be forward looking to set rules and regulations at the beginning rather than find out [colleges] were not qualified to enrol international students," said Shi Shuyun, education counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa.
Last November, BC and Canada signed an education agreement during premier Gordon Campbell's visit to Beijing. The agreement seeks to expand academic exchanges and move towards recognition of credentials from institutions in BC and China.
China issued the public warning a few weeks ago after Chinese students studying in Ontario and British Columbia reported separate scams involving two private colleges in Toronto and Vancouver. They weren't the first complaints.
"There are problems. It happened every year," said Shi. "That's the only purpose for the warning -- to let the students who are coming to Canada to think twice to go to those institutions which are not public universities. It's to protect the welfare of the students."
The Korean consulate in Vancouver also posted an advisory on its website last fall recommending students interested in studying abroad be careful when choosing colleges in western Canada.
In Vancouver, the spotlight has been on Kingston College. The school was ordered to close its doors last October after offering degrees from unaccredited universities, including American University in London and Armstrong University in California, in violation of provincial law.
The issue is politically explosive because Kingston College owner Michael Lo has been a prominent supporter of the B.C. Liberals. Until recently, Lo was a government appointee to the Private Career Training Institutions Agency.
The B.C. Liberals created the self-regulated body in 2004 so the industry could police itself. Lo has served as chairman of the agency's quality assurance committee.
Since the Chinese warning was issued, B.C. Minister of Advanced Education Murray Coell has spoken with Chinese and Indian officials about their concerns. In an interview, Coell said he will introduce new measures in the spring "to give increased security that China and India need to continue to send students here."
But Coell was non-committal about reversing the government's controversial decision to allow private career colleges to regulate themselves, saying only "it's one of the areas I've asked staff to look at. There hasn't been a decision on that yet."
Rob Fleming, B.C. New Democratic critic for advanced education, said this kind of vacillation isn't what countries like China deserve or need to hear.
"The B.C. Liberal government made the mistake that to compete in the global education market, they eliminated as much regulation and so-called red tape as possible. But what they ended up doing is attracting fly-by-night operators."
China has already indicated it has expectations of Canadian agencies that have not yet been met, issuing the warning to avoid private colleges in Canada despite recent steps taken by the Ontario government.
See also:
BC to bring regulations on private schools, minister tells China
Canada's private school scam is worst in world, consul says
China issues warning against Canadian education scams
China, BC sign education deal
Chinese students in Canada stats
Quest into Kingston fiasco demanded
King dethroned
Private university under probe
Premier loses Chinese advisor
Sharp drop in number of Chinese students to SFU
UBC attracts fewer Chinese students
Tags: china, canada, education, education scam, private schools, fraud, foreign students, international students, study abroad
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