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Abbreviation | ASIC |
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Formation | 2007 |
Legal status | Private company [1] |
Purpose | Assuring UK border reporting, and quality assurance services to independent colleges and universities |
Location |
|
Region served | UK and Global |
Membership | ENQA (affiliate), CHEA IQG, EDEN, NAFSA, BQF, UN Academic Impact Continuing Professional Development Professional Development |
Chairman | Maurice Dimmock |
Main organ | ASIC Board |
Website | asicuk |
The Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges and Universities (ASIC) is a private educational agency based in the United Kingdom that accredits UK-based and international schools, universities, and other education providers. [2]
ASIC has been appointed by the United Kingdom Government's Home Office UK Border Agency to accredit private UK colleges for visa purposes. [3] In this capacity, ASIC distinguishes colleges that actually provide educational services from bogus institutions that allow international students to obtain fraudulent visas. [4] [5]
In 2009, The Times reported that Maurice Dimmock, ASIC's director and chief officer, had been sacked in 2003 from his job at Northumbria University as director of overseas operations. [6] [7] The article stated that the newspaper had "established that the Home Office received, and ignored, concerns about ASIC and Dimmock before it granted the company a contract. Northumbria University wrote to the UK Home Office in May 2007 to question the role the company was about to be given in distinguishing between genuine and bogus colleges." [6]
Universities UK, the advocacy group for British Universities, complained to the UK Immigration Minister concerning ASIC being given an accreditation role in the UK immigration scheme. In a letter to the Home Affairs Committee, Advocacy UK wrote: "There is a lack of information and transparency about [ASIC's] management, governance, and financial structures. Several of the colleges that it accredits have been associated with inappropriate activities." [6] The government response to this was a statement that the 2007 decision was made on the basis of the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills's report that they were satisfied with the way ASIC was operating. ASIC responded to the allegations concerning its work of distinguishing between genuine colleges and those acting fraudulently had been hampered "by the Home Office’s refusal to tell ASIC how many student visas were issued for each college it inspects." [6]
In July 2009, ASIC submitted a response memorandum providing answers to the letter written by Diana Warwick, Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe, Chief Executive of Universities UK in which she had expressed concerns about the government's decision to approve the ASIC as one of the accreditation bodies within the new immigration system. In the response, ASIC provided information as to its accreditation and inspection processes and responded to charges regarding the organization's governance and finances. [8]
As of October 2020, ASIC is based in a semi-detached (duplex) residential property at 13 Yarm Road, Stockton-on-Tees TS18 3NJ. This is also the registered address for Qisan Ltd and Rose Education Foundation Limited. [9] Its directors were Maurice and Margaret Dimmock. [6]
ASIC is a member or affiliate of the following organizations:
Membership of these umbrella bodies does not confer any status or approval on ASIC, and merely indicate that ASIC has qualified as a member or affiliate of the organisation. [18]
Northumbria University is a public research university located in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East of England. It has been a university since 1992, but has its origins in the Rutherford College, founded in 1877.
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order to certify the quality of higher education accrediting organizations, including regional, faith-based, private, career, and programmatic accrediting organizations.
The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), formerly the National Home Study Council and then as the Distance Education and Training Council, is a private and non-profit national educational accreditation agency in the United States specializing in the accreditation of distance education programs of study and institutions. The DEAC is recognized as a U.S. institutional accreditor by both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
Vision International University is an American interdenominational Christian Seminary based in Ramona, California. The university offers distance education and online academic degree programs designed to prepare people for professional ministry.
The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), formerly the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, is a United States-based organization offering accreditation services to business programs focused on teaching and learning.
The European School of Economics (ESE) is a private college of higher education. It is accredited by ASIC, validated by Richmond, The American International University in London, and is an officially approved Learning Provider. ESE offers UK bachelor's degree, master's degree, MBA, and specialised short programmes at its centres in London, Rome, Milan, Florence, and Madrid.
The name Warnborough is associated with several related institutions of higher education existing from 1973 to the present, including Warnborough College Oxford, Warnborough College UK, Warnborough College Ireland and Warnborough University, some of which are no longer in operation. Warnborough College UK provides educational programmes both on-site in Canterbury, England, and by distance learning. Warnborough College Ireland offers distance-learning programmes from Ireland. Warnborough College has been the subject of multiple controveries relating to misrepresentation, education quality, legal and tax troubles, and eligibility to participate in government financial assistance.
The International College of the Cayman Islands (ICCI) is a non-profit, private, four-year independent institution of higher education which opened in the fall of 1970. It is the oldest college in the Cayman Islands and is located in Newlands in the district of Bodden Town on the island of Grand Cayman.
Unaccredited institutions of higher education are colleges, trade schools, seminaries, and universities which do not have formal educational accreditation.
V.I. Vernadsky Taurida National University (TNU) is a public university currently located in Kyiv. The university was founded in Simferopol in 1918 with the active participation of the geologist Vladimir Vernadsky. The university now bears his name. The university has 16 departments and 20 academic institutes. The university has the status of national and is accredited to the fourth level by the Ministry of Education of Ukraine.
The Universidad Azteca is a private university in Chalco, Mexico in a community in Mexico State in the greater Mexico City area. Universidad Azteca is a private university with recognition of the Official Validity of Studies awarded by the Federal Secretary of Education (RVOE), accredited by the Federal Ministry of Education of the Republic, ic and recognized by the Federal Government to provide higher education and award graduate and postgraduate university degrees.
In the United Kingdom a bogus college is a fake college or university used as part of an immigration and visa scam, whereby people from overseas can apply for a British student visa and illegally reside in the United Kingdom. They have also been set up as a money making scam, selling fake qualifications which have no official accreditation, often at the taxpayer's expense.
Higher education accreditation in the United States is a peer review process by which the validity of degrees and credits awarded by higher education institutions is assured. It is coordinated by accreditation commissions made up of member institutions. It was first undertaken in the late 19th century by cooperating educational institutions, on a regional basis.
Educational accreditation is a quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated and verified by an external body to determine whether applicable and recognized standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the appropriate agency.
Higher education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of post-secondary educational institutions or programs are evaluated to determine if applicable standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the agency.
GBSB Global Business School is a private business school located in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain and in Birkirkara, Malta.
The Pegaso University, often abbreviated as "Unipegaso", is an open university founded in 2006 in Naples, Italy. The university is accredited and recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education. It is ranked among the top three online universities in Italy based on the number of students enrolled in the 2023/2024 academic year, which amounted to 3,570.
Charisma University (CU) is an academic institution located in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), British Overseas Territories of the United Kingdom. It is a non-profit institution recognized by the Turks and Caicos Islands Ministry of Education, Labour, Employment and Customer Service to offer accredited undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate degree programs and certificate programs in various disciplines taught by over 100 faculty members.
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