Warnborough College

Warnborough College was founded in Oxford, England, in 1973 by Dr Brenden Tempest-Mogg, an Australian[1] who had attended Hertford College University of Oxford in 1970.[2] Warnborough College was not affiliated with the University of Oxford. It offered study abroad programmes and catered largely to American undergraduate and graduate students spending a semester or year abroad as part of their academic programme.[3] Other offerings included Warnborough College International Summer Schools[4] and a venue for summer conferences.[5] It was founded on Warnborough Road in North Oxford and in 1976 moved to Yatscombe Hall at Boars Hill, about four miles south from the city of Oxford.[2] The Boars Hill facilities included a Presidnet's Lodge and two Victorian Gothic mansions, used for teaching, administration and accommostion[6]

In 1985, Warnborough College began the successful Warnborough Australian Studies Programmes for studies in Sydney and Brisbane, Australia.[7]

In 1997 Warnborough University was registered as a limited company in Ireland, directed by Brenden Tempest-Mogg and Kee Guan Ng, a Malaysian national[1] with a registered branch office in the United Kingdom. It initially operated an office in London and later moved to Canterbury in 2001. It offered graduate and undergraduate residential and non-residential degrees in liberal arts, scientific and professional studies.[8] In November 2005 Ireland's Department of Education and Science said that Warnborough University in Ireland was in breach of the Universities Act 1997 by calling itself a university and requested that they not use the word "university".[9] Earlier in 2005, the inclusion of Warnborough and other unauthorized degree providers on a UK Department for Education and Skills (DFES) list of "genuine" education providers was described as an "embarrassment" to DFES.[10]

Saint Theresa's Medical University was an unaccredited institution in St. Kitts that the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization identified as being jointly operated with Warnborough.[11]

In the early 2000s Warnborough University generated controversy in Australia because neither Warnborough nor any of its consortium partners through which it was offering graduate and undergraduate degrees were accredited to do so.[12][13] The Australian state of New South Wales included Warnborough on a list of five "unrecognized universities".[14]

Up to October 2012 the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization named Warnborough in its listing of unaccredited universities,[11] with its then administrator, Alan Contreras, characterising Warnborough College as "a diploma mill that has managed to move back and forth between Britain and Ireland for decades without either government's being able to put an end to it."[15][16]

Warnborough College UK is accredited by the Accreditation Service for International Colleges and is designated as an "ASIC Premier College".[17] Warnborough UK is an accredited training provider for distance-education and onsite bookkeeping courses leading to Level 1 and Level 2 certification from the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers.[18] Warnborough College UK is an accredited training provider for the Association of Business Executives (ABE) and offers certificate and diploma tuition services by distance-learning or onsite covering business management and tourism and hospitality.[19] Warnborough UK was inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) for Private Further Education reporting to the UK Department of Education in 2012[20] however there are no records of any more recent inspections by ISI,[21] which would routinely inspect colleges every three to six years.[22]

Warnborough College Ireland is accredited by the Accreditation Service for International Colleges (ASIC) as a 'Premier Institution'. ASIC assesses the content and standards of a curriculum, the quality of instruction, and the reliability of testing, but the service "neither confers nor validates degree-awarding powers."[23]

Warnborough College Ireland courses are not recognised by Ireland's Department of Education, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) or the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI). In February 2008, Sean O'Foghlu, chief executive of NQAI told the Irish Independent that because Warnborough College is not a recognised higher education institution or awarding body the qualifications are "effectively worthless".[1]

In July 2008, HETAC denied the college's application for accreditation.[24] Warnborough sought leave to take judicial review of the denial[25] but withdrew its appeal in November 2008 after HETAC agreed to permit Warnborough to submit a new accreditation application.[26]

Up to October 2012 Warnborough College Ireland was not authorised to offer degrees in Oregon.[11]