Academic staff in British Columbia are calling on the provincial government to suspend operations at Lansbridge University following revelations that owner Michael Lo was illegally offering degrees at a sister school in the province.

The Vancouver Sun reported last month that Kingston College, a private post-secondary institution also owned by Lo, had offered degrees in B.C. in partnership with the American University in London.

Robert Clift, executive director of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C, said the college was repeatedly warned by the province to cease offering degrees but continued to do so, in direct violation of the Degree Authorization Act.

The act, which became law in 2002, requires any private post-secondary institution seeking to operate in the province to go through a quality assessment process and receive ministerial consent.

“In June 2005, Dr. Lo was given permission to operate Lansbridge University and to offer degree programs in B.C.,” Clift said. “Now there’s incontrovertible evidence he has misled students and government officials for more than six years about degree-granting activities at Kingston College. If this information had been known when he applied to operate Lansbridge, he would never have received approval. Clearly Lansbridge University’s B.C. operations must be shut down.”

Clift said the Kingston case highlights the “gross inadequacies in provincial legislation” to protect students from unscrupulous and illegal operators. “I think we’re starting to see either a massive failure of the quality assessment process, or manipulation of that process.”

The Private Career Training Institutions Agency, which launched an inquiry early last month has now “ordered Kingston College shut down, ” Clift said. “In light of these revelations, Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell has to protect students from Michael Lo potentially defrauding students at Lansbridge University.”

Lansbridge was accredited by the government of New Brunswick in 1999 after an assessment procedure led by KPMG Consultants.

In light of the Kingston scam, CUFA/BC has launched a public service web site, www.bcdegrees.ca, to provide prospective students with information about those institutions legally offering degree programs in the province.

The PCTIA report on its investigation into Kingston College is available at here.