It would appear that every registered day, under this installed government, represent yet another day of embarrassing revelations. For it was only 5yrs and counting, when we had the shocking disclosure that the installed President, of no less than 19 criminal charges, graduated from a phantom university of Uitvlugt. And having been confronted with such a shocking revelation, of blatant academic fraud, it was thought that we had seen and heard it all.
But that turned out not to be the case, as we are now faced with this painful realisation, Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), rather than being a legitimate education initiative, masquerades as an affiliate of Staffordshire University. In fact, this GOAL programme, not dissimilar to the Uitvlugt university academic scam, generates MSc and Phd degrees in the hundreds, only for the recipients to now discover, they aren’t worth the paper printed on.
However, even as we examine GOAL under the corruption microscope, admit we must that from the outset, it was shrouded in academic controversy. For even in a country of our comparative population, one would struggle to identify 378 postgraduate students, who would’ve effortlessly undertaken and graduated with PhD degrees, in a world record 3yrs.
But that is the case with this GOAL programme, where obviously duped students, registering in highly questionable universities, are bestowed in the hundreds, with devalued MSc and PhD degrees.
In fact, further evidence that this GOAL programme represents nothing but an academic scam, could be found in the numbers: 29,758 scholarships in 4yrs, with an unbelievable 8,000 graduates and no failures. Therefore, guided by these unbelievable, if not improbable statistics, this column has to call the GOAL programme for what it is: State sponsored academic fraud.
But even as we examine and question the legitimacy of the GOAL programme, we can’t do so without exploring its intermediary, International Skill Development Corporation (ISDC). For ISDC, guided by its accessible records, is a limited company that delivers online teaching in vocational and professional courses, such as ACCA, CMA etc.
However, ISDC which has affiliation with the JAIN University of India, not Staffordshire University, isn’t an accredited higher institution of learning, therefore can’t confer certification for any of the courses advertised. Nevertheless, despite ISDC having no such affiliation with Staffordshire University, students were duped into believing that they were registered with the aforementioned university.
And with the students duped into believing that they were registered with Staffordshire university, the corruptible ISDC with their deception, utilised JAIN University of India lecturers to deliver the classes.
Thus, the conclusion is irrefutable, this academic initiative of acronym GOAL, which should’ve served the purpose of providing social and economic mobility for the masses, is nothing short of a scheme to defraud we the taxpayers. For it is without doubt that tens of billions were expended on the said scheme, of very questionable academic outcomes, with a further $4.4B allocated for 2025.
However, having injected tens of billions into the programme, we the taxpayers were most astounded that 1400 students, thought to be registered with the Staffordshire University, were never registered with the institution. And confronted with these 1400 students fraudulently misled, the installed government rather than undertaking a thorough investigation of the GOAL programme, is making the argument that partially severing ties with ISDC would suffice.
But partially severing ties with ISDC, a corrupt institution of questionable credibility, has only generated more questions than answers.
And confronted with more questions than answers, the argument could be made for forensic audits of all education initiatives including GOAL, Technical Vocational Education Training, Guyana Coursera National Training Partnership etc. In fact, these forensic audits, undertaken by an independent body, will not only provide answers on the management of these academic initiatives, but should also prove invaluable in repairing our damaged academic credibility.