Islington Council’s trading standards team scored top marks in the campaign against fake universities with the prosecution of an education provider falsely calling itself a university.<br><br>AUL Graduate School of Advanced Studies Ltd, trading as the American University in London from 97-101 Seven Sisters Road, was fined at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court for two offences under the Trade Descriptions Act and Business Names Act on Friday 13 January 2006.<br><br>Company director and self-styled ‘university chancellor’, Dr Hussein Alzubaidi, pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to both charges and was ordered to pay a £750 fine for the Business Names Act offence, and a £4,000 fine for the Trade Descriptions Act offence as well as Islington Council’s costs of £5,000.<br><br>Commenting on the case and penalties, the magistrates said they had looked at the company’s website and prospectus from the point of view of a prospective student and had found the use of the word ‘university’ to be misleading. <br><br>The magistrates also said: "The aggravating feature of this case in relation to the trade descriptions matter is that it was bought to the attention of the company in 2004 and as recently as yesterday (12/1/06), the company was without proper accreditation and was still holding itself out as a university. Students have expectations they would be gaining an accredited university degree. It is a substantial deception and should be discouraged by this court".<br><br>Councillor George Allan, Executive Member for Customer Focus said: “The growth in online education has opened up opportunities for colleges to make misleading claims about their accreditation and the courses they offer. It is important that prospective students thoroughly research education providers or they could waste a lot of time and money pursuing a worthless qualification.”<br><br>Consumers who feel they have been misled by a company’s claims can contact Consumer Direct (on 08454 04 05 06 or at www.consumerdirect.gov.uk), who may refer the matter to the relevant local authority trading standards department for investigation.<br><br>Ends<br><br><br>
Page Last Updated: 17 December 2009