Thursday, September 20, 2007

OXCEL Revisited

One of the proprietors of OXCEL has written to me requesting that "[I] take down the fake certificate and other postings or we shall have to take the neccessary actions both in Malaysia and England."

He further added that "[the] blog should focus on reporting the truth instead of 'khabar angin'. A true reporter is able to support their claims with Facts. Your facts/ source is seriously faulty, which then brings down your creditability. I would have expected a University of Oxford graduate to be thorough and analytical in their research, thoughts and opinions."

I am taking the initiative to give him the benefit of the doubt with regards to the certificate, and will be removing the image of the alleged certificate from my earlier post here. However, for the moment, I'll be leaving the earlier posts as is on the site.

I have also offered twice since I first blogged on this issue for him to provide a formal reply to the site for the readers. This offer has not been taken up. However in his email to me, he did insist that "OXCEL is a legal entity in the UK unlike the other 'dubious institutions' that you have reported on. OXCEL also does not award degrees."

Readers are given every opportunity to evaluate the story and make their own conclusions. And if I'm proven wrong, I'll be more than happy to apologise.

12 comments:

Tina Boyer said...

You have an excellent and important website. Thank you. Amy

Anonymous said...

The only hits on google about this certificate mill are all concerning Malaysians.

I wonder whether it is actually a Malaysian institution.

Could you please let us know the address of this person who wrote to you, especially if there is nothing to hide. Why give the benefit of doubt if there is really no problem at all?

~

WY said...

dear Tony,

While your humility is impressive, I don't think truth-reporting should be frightened by legal threats. Too many of us have been too afraid to speak up because of these "threats". Justice? I wonder.

Nevertheless, I hope there's more followup on this. Did the proprietors leave a contact address in UK and Malaysia? I woudl love to sign up and learn more. perhaps i can stop my postgrad, and "earn" one from Oxcel.

WY said...

Hi Tony,

Realizing that I have posted a comment without doing much "homework", i went on a little google search.


I guess they must have taken their ideas from
This: http://www.oxim.org/index.html
http://oxcel.org/page.php?key=1

Oxim and Oxcel even sound similar. Lol. Note the similiarity in the websites.

There's no doubt that these "organizations" are not academic institution. They are neither professional associations nor non-profit organisations.

They are purely money-making SCAM, that per-use the "public good" reputation of Oxford University. I guess in the world of Bolehland, the word oxford, the picture of a mat salleh and a bunch of well-dressed people can convince anyone about their "qualifications".

I guess it's good, because these "qualifications" provide another avenue for potential employers to filter our the scammers. :)

Anonymous said...

Apparently, the representative for that questionable institution is also associated with the now collapsed Pacific College which owed monies for services rendered by their lecturers. Definitely a scam. Further, their manageress Jessica always promised payment but left both lecturers and students doing the LCCI program in the lurch. Funny thing is the whole set up is also linked to Mawi who received a doctorate from either this institution or the one linked to Cambridge too - not the uni! Somehow or another they seem to be able to get support from relevant authorities and it is a Malaysian outfit established abroad and marketed here in Malaysia. Pacific College use to be located in Raja Chulan but now if you see it there is nothing there but an empty shell of a building.

Anonymous said...
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Prince said...

I lived and worked in Oxford for over 10 years. Came back in 2005 and joined the Malaysian office of the blue-chip company I was working for. I felt I had to say something with regards to the claims made on this website.

I'm not going to take sides here, but in all fairness yes they are in the Education Business and you are just rfeporting what you may find through your resources. I know for sure that Regus do have offices in the UK and Malaysia for rent. I have worked in the Cowley,Oxford area for many years and yes, OXCEL do have an office there unfortunately or fortunately. In fact Harley Davidson UK has an office there. ARIS training was there too...and not forgetting the David Lloyd gym. So yes, there are office spaces for rental there and not only mail forwarding. Are you sure you've got your facts right...

Perhaps, we should check out the courses available and the methods used prior to make any allegations. If OXCEL or OXIM can provide those information via proper media platforms...let's just let it go...

Talking about branding, yes they do have similar branding among the organisations within the industry. Each organisation do try to mimick the competitor...and it's normal for healthy competition.

I am just giving my two cents worth...and please, I'd rather have us discuss more about how we should sustain human capital through education or how to create quality graduates. Let's unite and stop bickering? I'm sure 50 years of independence means something to eahc and every one of you?

Peace!
adamputra

Anonymous said...

Malaysia is celebrating 43rd years anniversary not 50th. Only Malaya does celebrate it.

hehe...

Omar Cruz said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

One way of determining the value of an educational or training institution is to look at the qualifications of its staff. For Oxcel only one name can be unearthed at its web site.

That is the director “Professor Marshall Hall”. He is presumably the same “Professor Marshall G. Hall whose CV is available online.

Professor Hall’s career began in 1976 when he started a custom kitchen design company. In 1985 he got an associate of arts degree from North Central Michigan College. Later he obtained two Bachelor of Arts degrees and two Master of Arts from the University of Michigan.

He then spent three years at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and seven years at the American Intercontinental University in London where he was head of department and where apparently he received the title of Professor.

The American Intercontinental University is accredited but only just. The home campus in the US is on probation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The Quality Assurance Agency in the UK has said of AIU in London that:

“at present, no confidence can be placed in the soundness of AIUL's management of the quality of its programmes”

and
“at present, there can be no confidence in AIUL's institutional level capacity to manage effectively the security of the awards validated by the Open University.”

After a bit more than a year with Nord Anglia Education plc Professor Hall was Head of School/Director of the London School of Business and Management, described as a “small unquoted company filing only a modified balance sheet” until he retired in December, 2006.

Professor Hall describes himself as now “doing independent teaching and consulting work, he devotes much of his time to writing and converting curriculum for on-line delivery by educational institutions”.

Professor Hall also includes some notable achievements on his CV. One is getting a contract in 1991 to write a book but not apparently writing it. Another is attending the “Midwest Symposium on Virtual Reality with Timothy Leary “ (presumably the guru of psychedelia). He does not say what he did with Leary. Maybe they presented a joint paper.

I’ll leave it to readers of this blog to decide for themselves on the merits of Oxcel’s staff.

Anonymous said...

Mawi got a doctrate speaks volumes in itself

WY said...

dear adamputra,

having an actual office in oxford doesn't mean its an legitimate educational institution.

btw, we re not bickering, but we re providing the check and balance that our government failed to do so (often because they re bribed to look else where).

The value of education is inherent, and we cannot deny it. but what's a professional qualification is that, it is supposed to give confidence to people about the quality of the holder. If ths is a scam, then it s the duty of us, to un-earth it.

in contrary, i think we re much more patriotic, if and only if we question the questionable. don't brush everything down the carpet, because we have been independent for 50 years. same even if we have been independent for 1000 years.