Selling Certificates - The UK diploma mill in Malaysia
Edited by Murray Hunter
The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a UK charity promoting management training. Its wholly-owned subsidiary in the UK is engaged in “selling student registrations on commercial terms”, according to its 2023 Annual Report.
In 2019 CMI established a wholly-owned commercial entity in Malaysia to do the same thing in Malaysia.
The commercial student registrations are advertised and sold with "value-added" deliverables which are part of HE Partnership agreements with universities in Malaysia packaged with CMI certificates and credentials.
These "value-added" offers claim to provide unique course material and curriculum content, career development tools and advice, job preparedness and CV advice, internships, mentoring, student events and networking, interview training, counselling and other support activities.
In reality these "value-added" deliverables have not been provided as recently released feedback from Malaysian universities has revealed.
CMI has HE Partnership Agreements with 21 universities and colleges including leading private universities such as Sunway University, Taylors University and UNITEN owned by the national power company.
Public universities including Putra Business School, Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Kelantan are also involved.
This covers around 4,000 students, each paying around RM1,500 for membership and "value-added" services and products which have not materialised.
In addition there are around 1,000 members who are not students but pay a similar annual fee of RM1,500 for similar packages which have not been delivered.
Collectively these 5,000 members should raise around RM6 million in revenue to provide the "value-added" deliverables promised by CMI and paid for largely by students and universities but this has not happened.
During the period 2019-23 the commercial arm of CMI in Malaysia recorded no revenue at all from the fees of 5,000 members but had instead accumulated a RM4.14 million (almost US$1 million) debt from operational expenditure, mainly staff salaries.
This huge liability was owed to CMI in the UK and was written-off as a bad debt in August 2023 according to audited accounts filed at the Malaysian Companies Commission (SSM).
This left the CMI commercial arm in Malaysia with no assets, no income and a RM2 million loss recorded in its audited 2023 return at SSM.
The Malaysian commercial arm of CMI has essentially been run as a tax avoidance shell company with just one share issued, valued at RM1 and held by CMI in the UK. It has only two directors one of whom is Lucy Greggains the CFO
and COO of CMI in UK and one local director otherwise apparently unconnected with CMI.
The tax avoidance model ensures that all fees and income from 5,000 Malaysian members and 21 universities is paid to the UK where it is exempt of tax due to CMI's charity status.
Money from Malaysian fee-payers and universities is then recycled back to the CMI commercial entity in Malaysia to pay the skeleton staff there who are involved in the commercial recruitment of students and selling CMI certificates in what is essentially a diploma mill.
This business is managed from the UK by Zain Munir, Head of International at CMI in England.
The money recycled back to Malaysia is registered as a loan to the Malaysian commercial arm rather than revenue and when running costs are netted out the Malaysian entity registers a financial loss every year so that no tax is paid in Malaysia either.
In the period 2019-23 CMI has paid no tax on at least US$1 million of recycled income registered as a loan rather than as revenue. The loan is then written off to provide clean accounts.
The CMI UK accounts state that they make a profit from the fees paid by Malaysian students and universities. The amount is undeclared in the UK audited accounts but is absorbed into the UK income where no tax is paid due charitable tax exemption status.
A scamming business model
The business model of the commercial recruitment of students and selling of certificates works as follows.
Universities recruit students and teach them for 2-4 years according to their own curriculum with content developed and delivered by their own faculty.
Pastoral support, career advice, job preparation, internships, student events and networking, interview training and all other support is provided by the universities themselves.
The students complete the required university assessments and exams which are graded by the university faculty. On completion of their programme the students receive the degree from the university accredited by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).
At that stage upon payment of a fee CMI issues a UK certificate without any assessment, teaching, use of CMI course materials or contact with CMI tutors or staff members.
In many cases students are unaware that they have paid for the CMI certificate because the fees have already been charged and collected on behalf of CMI by their universities, sometimes without any separate itemised record in their bills.
CMI also follow a policy of compulsory enrollment and charges for all students following a programme for which a certificate will be sold. There is no "opt-out" option.
Such scams must be eliminated from Malaysian higher education to maintain integrity.
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“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ”
― Alvin Toffler (4 Oct 1928- 27 June 2016)
The current tragedy in Malaysia as far as education is concerned is the result of the above sickness-failure to learn. This is nothing new at all. This is the history of blunders repeating itself endlessly. Let me share a few quotes that described the masses' mentality across the corridor of the past era.
"Most people are too stupid to act in their own interest" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
"Today as always, men fall into two groups: slaves and free men. Whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself, is a slave, whatever he may be: a statesman, a businessman, an official, or a scholar." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
"The people is never corrupted, but it is often deceived." ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau
"There is the greatest difference between presuming an opinion to be true, because, with every opportunity for contesting it, it has not been refuted, and assuming its truth for the purpose of not permitting its refutation." ~ John Stuart Mill(1806-1873)
"A people among whom there is no habit of spontaneous action for a collective interest - who look habitually to their government to command or prompt them in all matters of joint concern - who expect to have everything done for them, except what can be made an affair of mere habit and routine - have their faculties only half developed; their education is defective in one of its most important branches." ~ John Stuart Mill
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche( 1844-1900)
"There's no defense against stupidity." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
"A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another, and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the dominant power in the government." ~ John Stuart Mill
"Assemble a mob of men and women previously conditioned by a daily reading of the newspapers; treat them to amplified band music, bright lights...and in next to no time you can reduce them to a state of almost mindless subhumanity. Never before have so few been in a position to make fools, maniacs, or criminals of so many." ~ Aldous Huxley(1894-1963)
The facts that an opinion has been held is no evidence whatever that it is not entirely absurd, indeed in view of the silliness of majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible. Bertrand Russell (1872-1870)
Is there a solution to encourage and inspire more thinking among the masses? The majority of the masses is hard to change in light of revelation of the truth. Due to attachment to past belief . However the best option is to view long term by investing in prenatal education. When the fetus is open,free from prejudice and hold no opinion. The fetus is hungry to learn, to connect and welcome any stimulant to constitute his/her mind's content.
Almost all thinking, creative child prodigies are all exposed and taught from the class-room of the womb by the parents. For more reach out to jordan9tan@yahoo.com
Prenatal education is the key to groom and nurture an unborn child to learn, unlearn and relearn.
Even this quote shared the same sentiment.
"The only skill that will be important in the 21st century is the skill of learning new skills. Everything else will become obsolete over time." ~ Peter Drucker(19 Nov 1909-11 Nov 2005)
Britain is failing and dragging Malaysia down with it. Take away lesson. Don't trust everything white man says.