Warnborough College, Oxford
JohnBBear
Here's a classic case of how distance students can be misled. For years,
Warnborough College has been advertising itself as "Oxford's only distance
learning college." But they had, needless to say, no connection with
Oxford University, they just rented space there. Indeed, in my book, I
suggested that theirs was the most cleverly misleading school information
(especially their CD) I had ever seen. Here, then, is an long but
fascinating (well, to me anyway) article from this week's London Telegraph
(Oct. 25). --John Bear
*******************************************
John Bear, Ph.D. is co-author of Bears' Guide to Earning
College Degrees Nontraditionally (1996, 12th ed.)
*******************************************'
Oxford' college sued in US is repossessed
By Tim King
A COLLEGE being sued by American students, deceived into thinking it
belonged to Oxford University, has closed owing a bona fide Oxford
college
L6,310.
Warnborough College's campus has been repossessed by a creditor and its
temporary offices, rented from a Baptist church in Oxford, have been
closed.
Oxford University's Hertford College is trying to trace Brenden
Tempest-Mogg,
Warnborough's founder and president.
Dr Tempest-Mogg, a former student of Hertford, is thought to have
returned to
his native Australia. Hertford has not been paid for accommodation it
provided
to students from a Japanese school on a two-week language course run by
Warnborough and Dr Tempest-Mogg.
Warnborough's former site at Boar's Hill, south-west of Oxford, outside
the
city's ring-road, is for sale after the college failed to meet the terms
of a loan
from a Business Expansion Scheme. Sun Alliance, which owns the BES, said
it
had lent L1.5 million to Warnborough in 1992, secured against the Boar's
Hill
campus, comprising a former Bishop's Palace, Yatscombe Hall and a
gate-house, valued at the time at around L3 million.
Warnborough College recruited overseas students, mainly from America,
paying fees of up to L12,000 a year. In September last year the Attorney
General of Washington State filed a lawsuit after complaints from
students,
some of whom also took out their own lawsuits. The brochure from the
college, entitled "The Traditions of Oxford, Oxford University and
Warnborough College," had given the false impression that it was part of
the
university.
The brochure boasted: "Warnborough College is the leading gateway into
Oxford for international students, and the only Oxford College that
admits US
students directly out of high school." The students arrived to find that
the
college campus was several miles outside the city. The US Education
Department, which had been told the college was a recognised foreign
institution, withdrew federal assistance for American students' tuition
fees
when it discovered the college did not have the power to grant degrees.
The college was founded in Warnborough Road, Oxford, in 1973, and moved
to Yatscombe Hall, former home to the Greek scholar Gilbert Murray and
Lord
Shawcross, in 1976. The company which held the freehold of the campus,
Oxford International Educational Enterprises Ltd, for which Mr
Tempest-Mogg
was company secretary, and his brother Daryl and an Ethel Tempest-Mogg
the
only other directors, was wound up in January 1995 after a petition from
the
Inland Revenue.
But Warnborough College only moved out of the Boar's Hill campus this
summer, into offices in central Oxford rented from North Road Baptist
Church,
from which it ran language courses. The minister at New Road, the Rev
Simon
Carver, said the college had moved out in August having paid its rent in
full. Mr
Carver said: "Dr Tempest-Mogg went to Australia some time in July and we
heard he was going to visit his mother."
Mr Peter Baker, bursar of Hertford College, said: "We know that the
Japanese
school paid Warnborough who didn't pay us. We are owed L6,310 which I
suspect is quite small compared with some other people. It's a bit
embarrassing
because Brenden Tempest-Mogg was a student at Hertford College in 1970."
INT_J...@cctc.sum.tec.sc.us
In article <5580mp$b...@newsbf02.news.aol.com> john...@aol.com (JohnBBear) writes:
>From: john...@aol.com (JohnBBear)
>Subject: Warnborough College, Oxford
>Date: 30 Oct 1996 11:45:13 -0500
Duh!!!
Ted Mayett (KoX)
>I still regard Hubbard as a genius but not in quite the same way as I
>did before.
>
---
Ted Mayett te...@skylink.net
This link is a good starting point:
http://home.pacific.net.sg/~marina/misc/arshtml.htm
Next Picket Dec 7-8 1996, for information:
http://www.primenet.com/~cultxpt/demo.htm