Warning: Hartford Institute/Raffles University

[lmbeharry]

Note that this Posting refers to Raffles University / Hartford Institute Business Training Curriculum in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I did not teach ESL at Hartford Institute (though ESL teachers there suggested on many occasions that the grading schema was highly subjective and that Raffles/Hartford Institute management had a lot of influence into doling out final grades in the English Language programs - regardless of student performance...) I suspect that Raffles Education Corp. promulgates this Hartford Institute business model throughout Asia...

Hartford Institute / Raffles Education Corp. is violating its mission statement!

Hartford/Raffles boasts as their mission statement:

The University aims to deliver high quality teaching through a curriculum that consistently emphasizes:

* Creativity and innovation.
* Enterprise and entrepreneurship.
* Relevance and employability.
* Professional excellence.
* Socially responsible professional practice.

The University will deliver its programmes through an extensive international network which provides the opportunity for its students to gain a competitive edge in the global economy.




The truth is, the company is a degree mill. By this I mean, the company places little emphasis on quality, and even less emphasis on education.

To introduce myself, I have an MBA from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA; I have one year of Law School from William & Mary; and my final trump card: I possess the all-powerful BA from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University. I have over thirteen years of professional experience with Fortune 500 companies and smaller firms. I have been teaching professionally and as a volunteer for twenty years (one-on-one and with groups in excess of 30 persons). I worked at Hartford Institute (a Raffles company) from July 2007-January 2008 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. They were seeking business lecturers.

In order to teach business, the Raffles group requires "a Master's degree." I am a 42 year old idealist and I am often (still) naive. But I assumed that the business lecturers would have the requisite credentials, business experience, teaching experience, and creativity to produce value through education. Yet Hartford seemingly requires the bare minimum from their lecturers: 1) read PowerPoint slides to the undergraduate students (that’s the testimony of the students, as I had never had the chance to review a peer’s lecture); 2) promote the school through various marketing ploys in Ulaanbaatar… Furthermore, the school promises to provide the teaching materials (read on below).

The workload at Hartford Institute (a Raffles company): four six-hour classes (24 hours of lecture time) each week for twelve-week sessions. The course materials are often non-existent, or late in arriving after the term starts. The company cannot even invest a modicum of money into course materials. The tuition in Mongolia is in excess of $7,000 USD per annum. Bear in mind that the per capita income in Mongolia is under $2,100 per annum – and this is an anomaly caused by the crash of the US mortgage market and the world system pushing up the price of gold. (*Per capita income in Mongolia was approximately $2,100 in 2006, according to Wikipedia*).

Following are a few examples of typical corporate support for lecturers: For six months I had regularly asked the Director of the Ulaanbaatar Raffles Hartford Institute to invest $75 (that is seventy-five dollars USD) to purchase some additional computer memory storage in order that I might have shared business materials, business films, and business/stock market games with the students. This guy, a Director of Raffles refused! $75 dollars! I thought then, and I believe now, that my request was entirely reasonable!

Raffles University provides graduate level syllabi and texts to 18 and 19 year-olds whose English is a second language. I checked the publishers and the websites for the books just to make sure I knew what I was talking about. But beyond this, textbooks are scarce! I had to raise the question of the appropriateness of the course work and the texts to the PhD directors in Singapore (senior Hartford Institute management). The Ulaanbaatar school had been doing it for years in Mongolia - and likely elsewhere! Can you imagine? And they became angry with me for pointing it out. They urged that I should find appropriate books and submit it to them prior to use for screening. My argument to them was: When will I have the time to read a 400 page textbook? I was lecturing 24 hours a week, four twelve-week sessions each year (that’s 48 weeks out of 52 weeks in the year). With a break of one week between sessions to grade finals and papers, and submit scores to home office, and then (hopefully) get a few days to review the courses they had assigned me for the succeeding term (to write original exams, prepare an appropriate syllabus, and find appropriate and challenging ancillary materials for the students). Where would I find the time to do their job and review appropriate course material? I therefore asked Singapore to select the books for me. They refused. Rather, they terminated my contract (within a matter of hours)! Coincidence?

They may have purchased, borrowed, or scammed the syllabi they pushed on the lecturers. These were basically a la carte variety syllabi, and definitely not individually catered for each class. The syllabi came with examination materials. One instructor there seemingly never changed the accounting tests he gave his accounting classes (term after term, year after year). Basically, he gave the test, graded them, and submitted three test scores (high, low, and median) to home office to satisfy in-house “quality control.” His students can never retrieve their tests. This head of Ulaanbaatar’s Raffles/Hartford academic department locks students’ tests in a closet in the teacher's office. Is this transparent? To me, this seems very suspicious. My thoughts on this: these are final exams for undergraduate accounting - not someone’s thesis that has to be reviewed by the academic board!

This same academic director (or maybe it is Raffles Singapore’s directive) made the decision that if a student misses five classes, he will earn an automatic failure – even if the student had been ill. I find this suspicious. It seems that this rather subjective standard gives the school an opportunity to extort money from parents to secure a pass mark.

The Raffles/Hartford school does not even allow instructors to specialize. My specialty is finance, but the school required that I teach marketing (and economics and strategy) and after my first two terms – directly before they terminated my contract, corporate finance).

The Raffles/Hartford school promised the Mongolian students that upon graduating, Hartford’s New Zealand partner, Central Queensland University, (who guarantees the international accreditation) would issue the diplomas. This past January, my students complained to me that Raffles/Hartford issued their diplomas (basically the diplomas carry Hartford’s endorsement). This is clearly misrepresentation.

Following are a few more examples of questionable Raffles/Hartford school policy: After the course is over, instructors are not permitted to give students their grades. Have any of you ever attended a college or university where your professor could not provide your grade after final exams? I never have. In every single school of higher education I have ever attended, professors deliver grades to the students. But at Hartford, the instructors submit grades to the school and the school gives the grades to the students... As an instructor, I never had the time to check whether the schools’ grades matched the grades I had submitted.

It seems that the company is engineered around marketing a shell game. Their business model revolves around a simple marketing campaign. They are selling the dream of "the first international degree in Mongolia" to unsuspecting nouveaux riches!

The Hartford/Raffles school goes by many different names (as part of the shell game trick). It may be Raffles, Hartford Institute, and in China, they use other names as well. I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but of late I have had to draw the conclusion that this is a purposeful part of the scam to insulate each brand name from the misdoings of the others (to stupefy parents, students, and instructors). If I had a quality program with good brand equity, I would not want to dilute it across many different named entities. I would consolidate the brand equity into one. Wouldn’t you?

When corporations don't fulfill their mission and senior management is incompetent, the whole system degrades...

I have come up with some possible solutions to these dilemmas. The Entity should focus on fulfilling its mission statement (or create a new mission statement that accurately reflects their mission and vision). To solve Raffles/Hartford corporate culture dilemma, senior management should focus on the following points. If senior management cannot cope with the issues, the investors should change senior management and find proper qualified persons. I’m giving this advice for free. It’s very valuable (obvious to me) and they should use it:

1) screen your instructors for credentials and ability;
2) perform random sit-ins in your instructors’ classes;
3) require peer review of teaching standards and instructor qualification;
4) institute rational teaching schedules and a curriculum focused upon developing your student body so that each course builds up upon the prior ones. Rip up the hodge-podge lessons plans currently in place. In Education you may provide quality or quantity – but not both. It seems obvious to me. So I guess Raffles has to choose what it wants, quality or quantity… Business School is not about reading slides to students. Business school is about analyzing cases; teaching spreadsheet applications; teaching linear programming; teaching accounting the modern way – with spreadsheets, and accounting software; forcing the students to question their perceptions about marketing and business in the modern world; enforcing a system whereby students work in teams to learn group dynamics but also so the students can isolate their specialties, etc.; and above all else, the instructors must lead by example – that means instructors must behave in an ethical manner (see peer review above).

How can you provide quality business education if you work your instructors for 24 hours of teaching per week? You are hiring these guys to teach Business – not English conversation… Where should your instructors find the time to actually create worthwhile case studies? From where does the time come? What about working with student teams? From where does the time come? And creating original exams and innovative teaching materials? And research? From where does the time come?

It’s obvious to me. The Directors of Raffles Education Corp. need to choose. Are they selling quality or quantity? Don’t lie – basically, your present mission statement is a misrepresentation. If Raffles/Hartford is not fulfilling the mission upon which investors infused capital, and upon which parents pay tuition, Raffles/Hartford has committed grave misrepresentation.

5) In business, do not hesitate to fire incompetent employees. Do not hesitate to remove incompetent managers and/or Directors. (But make sure to review each situation in turn. Don’t jump the gun, and weigh each situation objectively. The ultimate aim: maximize stakeholder value. Make a good product. Create positive brand equity. President Truman had a plaque on his desk: The Buck Stops Here! That means that the senior officer is responsible for misdoings under his/her charge!)

These guys (senior management) are conducting a business school and they don't even understand Business Ethics and Management!

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I had made these points time and again in staff meetings, to no avail. That is precisely the reason I am currently so irate! This was the Academic Manager’s (Hartford Institute Ulaanbaatar) argument against me: He said: It’s your (Lyndon’s) opinion! He said that if I wanted to teach, I should go to a public university and that Raffles/Hartford was not the place for someone who wanted to teach. (This last sentence is a paraphrase as I cannot recall his precise language.)

My thoughts at the time flashed back to Sigourney Weaver in Aliens 2. Quote: Did IQ’s suddenly drop while I was away?

Is this guy so blinded by the corporate system that he cannot think rationally?


To current investors and prospective investors:
Please fix this place! It’s your money and Raffles is abusing it.

Conversely, you may wish to ask Raffles to change their mission statement to something that more closely reflects the truth:
Raffles University’s (and affiliates) mission is to market a fictitious education program to unsophisticated buyers, extort their money, and repatriate ill-gotten earnings to Singapore. We feel that this is a noble endeavor because we desire to all be rich without expending too much effort in producing value for society. We feel that we deserve more power and some fancy cars, a few penthouse apartments, and perhaps a yacht at the expense of the students.

I’ve been around long enough to see many corporations come and go. And I guarantee this! If Raffles does not change radically (and begin to produce some value for the shareholders and the other stakeholders), it is doomed! It may take one year, five years, or ten years. But it is doomed. But the longer it takes, the more thousands of young persons you will have disillusioned. These are young people who otherwise could have been producing value for society. So, basically all Raffles is doing is stealing from two separate generations and postponing development in Asia. How criminal is that?!

To the parents:
Sue the corporation to retrieve your money! (Raffles management had promised that the degree certificate would reflect the New Zealand University: Central Queensland University – not Hartford/Raffles. That is misrepresentation and you should get your money back!) They stole it from you and your kids are worse off now than when they started their education at Raffles!

Hartford has violated its own Service Guarantee!!!

[shaowmaster]

Yeah, another guy complaining that what people here in Europe call diploma mill. You have your university degree from a rich country, and everything beound of a Master or Bachelor from an english or american university is not of your taste.

From an academic point of view the diplomas of Hartford English school are nothing worth - in 1'st world countries. Maybe you have in mind that the intention of this facility is NOT to provide any education of any scientific relevance.

It provides a certificate to allow to work (and stay) in lot of 2nd and 3rd world countries. This is good for backpackers on long term trips to survive and not to live in luxury. These people don't complain the conditions. You pay for the certificate and no other organisation recognises this paper than a Hartford School.

Talking about the real diploma mills: they claim to provide REAL scientific titles. There are lot of real diploma mills out there - pay 500$ and get your bachelor. Or 5000, for a Dr. or Ph.D.

And there are some professional schools, some universities in Asia providing Master courses which can be completed in 1-2 years just by filling out some exam forms over the net and reading some stuff if you only need the title, and you need 5 years with the local basics of education.

From the point of view of a mongolian citizen studying in such a facility it's different - they need 3 years and they have to learn a lot of stuff they don't have at school. The duty school is over after 4 years, and you can apply for additional 4 years in a college. After that you may enter the UB university for about 600$ a semester....

And having a title that qualifies for some work in the home country or abroad. Let's go to the AIT in Klong Luang: They mave master courses in environmental quality management that contains lab courses in chemistry, microbilology and other stuff. I (with a german education) could complete this course within 12 months, because I learned half of that in school. The locals don't. Here in Germany a Master from Thailand is officially not an academic title for entering the university in a postgraduate course, but in Mongolia or in Thailand you can live an affordable life by working in this job And for private business it's a title, and so you are different from all the self-made computer geeks applying for the same position.

But don't forget: what you call here a college degree or an university-entry level degree is often comparable to a Master or Bachelor in Mongolia, in Thailand, in China, Laos or anywhere else outside of Europe, North America and Australia.

You complain the lack of study material - you complain the prices - you complain everything.

My girlfriend studied chemistry in UB, and later she became an university teacher for chemistry and in this position she held lectures about 20 hours or more - in Ulan Bataar, and her income is about 3000$ a year. For this money she has to work about 60 hours a week, these lecture hours included. She worked also in the industry, got about 5000$ p.a. under work conditions which can be entitled as slavery. Inhuman.

And you complain that income in Mongolia is only about 2000$? You try to compare your 500 Pound certificate that you get after 2 weekends in England with a long term education of the people living in UB. As far as I know they pay 400$ a month for a fulltime teacher position.

This Hartford certificate is an opportunity to stay in Mongolia for a longer term, having a work permit in a country which has an avreage unemployment rate of 20%. Usually you cannot stay longer than 1 month - and lot of other countries are similar. If you don't love this country you see only the odds.

On my stay in Mongolia I met a lot of people, staying there with no income as peace corps volunteers. Only with some pocket money, mostly teaching english or helping poor farmers. I met others, where the parents made a donation to an NGO and so the NGO sent them where they want to go. Some people think it's cool to drive a brand new NGO car through the chaotic traffic of UB.

But this is a 30.000$ payment for 5 years. I met some people doing business in Mongolia like Mr. Schäfer who founded a german style brewery and who is now the biggest shareholder of APU and the owner of Khan Bräu.

I myself had to pay 45$ for a visa extension (3$ a day) being a tourist :-) I also met some students from the USA, doing some environmental studies in Khovd for 6 months - I met an australian woman studying music in Chovd for 5 years....

So I assume that your point of view (so few money, so much work, no study materials...) is not the right one. I would consider to get this Hardford certificate to be together with my Girlfriend in UB and doing some computer-related business on my own.

I personally have no university degree, only an MCP from Microsoft but anyway I made a career in IT business for now 12 years.

[lmbeharry]

My issue is that Hartford Institute is misleading its students and the parents of the students. I acknowledge your comments regarding the education system in developing countries in Asia, that the education is "substandard" from the point of view of an American "educational elitist" like me.

I did not complain about my pay. I complained that the school is charging over $7,000 for an allegedly "quality," "innovative" program - their words, not mine. Have you seen the income statement of this company?

5 Nov 2007

Hartford Net Profit Jumps 30% to S$0.54 million
What the hell do I care for money (besides that I have a young family).

And regarding the time I personally spent preparing my classes - try between 50 and 70 hours a week on average. A few weeks, I peaked at over 90 hours. I even worked through Christmas Day (and the prior weekend) and New Years' Day (and the prior weekend) - grading tests, reading material, and seeking ancillary study aids to complement the school's pathetic attempt to provide legitimate materials...

I have been a volunteer with VISTA (sister organization of the Peace Corps). I spent the last twenty years of my U.S. experience volunteering in soup kitchens and working with kids on weeknights and weekends while I worked full-time (and went on to earn my MBA at night).

Regarding Mongolia salaries and teacher status. Mongolia is corrupt, maybe moreso than Hartford/Raffles. A country that does not value education enough to reward teachers and stimulate learning and innovation is doomed. Basically, another country will assimilate them (either because Mongolia will be forced to hire technology from outside, or outside MNC's will gain too much influence over a population that never earned an "elitist education" or a level of international sophistication).

What do I care? When I came here I tried to teach within the UB university system: University of Humanities and Institute of Finance. AND GET THIS STRAIGHT, I DID NOT TAKE THE HARTFORS GIG FOR THE MONEY, I TOOK THE GIG TO TEACH, BECAUSE I AM A DAMN GOOD TEACHER. When I was at Hartford, I told my students (who all complained about the school and the other teachers, by the way) that they should go and support their local universities.

DO NOT GET BITCHY AT ME!!! I am simply stating that this company is providing little (if any) value to society at all - WHILE EXTORTING A HEAVY BURDEN UPON THE LOCALS' POCKETBOOKS!!!!!

[lmbeharry]

Bear In Mind: I love money!!!! I love the good that Money can do. I have no problem whatsoever with Raffles Education Corp/Hartford Institute making good secure long-term ethical and legal profits. But I do have a problem with a company that lies to its constituents (young people with a dream). Read my memo again. I ask the Investors to fix the company - and I told them how to do it... And I am deathly afraid that Raffles will push this same scam throughout Asia...

Did you see this news article:

S'pore Raffles may raise $500-$700 mln in HK listing-source

Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:10am EST

SINGAPORE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Singapore-listed education provider Raffles Education Corp RLSE.SI may raise up to $700 million by listing part of its Chinese assets on the Hong Kong stock exchange in the middle of this year, a source said.
"The amount should be $500 million to $700 million and the likely listing is in the middle of this year," the source briefed on the deal told Reuters. Earlier the firm said in a statement that it has appointed UBS AG UBSN.VX as an adviser for the listing. The company did not give the total value of its Chinese assets or the amount it intends to raise through the listing.
Raffles Education has a market capitalisation of about $2.2 billion. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing By Ovais Subhani)

[shaowmaster]

Capitalism is everywhere, and somebody who pays 7000$ for a business administration course does definitely not belong to the avwerage 2000$ p.a. income class.

Some people make business, some people trade - 70% of the state income depends on the mines in Erdenet. If the copper price is high, UB has public warm water. And, of course, some officials involved with this mining business (the state holds 100% of the shares of the mining company) get rich, but not by their salary.

OK, there is this expensive looking Hartford institute. They are draining money from Mongolia. This is evil. But what to do?

Maybe it's a good idea to found our own english and BA school - with 21st century like teaching and equipment.

[lmbeharry]

Capitalism is nowhere! Capitalism is about honest people (producers) creating value and trading amongst themselves for self-interest. When everyone works in self-interest, with honest knowledge about the products and labor, and in an environment that allows free trade for advantage, everyone becomes better off.

What Hartford Institute is doing is socialist. They are lying about their product, extorting money, and trying to keep all of the constituents ignorant of the truth. That's very similar to the Stalinist socialist totalitarian model.

Mongolia is not a capitalist country...

I can't start a business in Mongolia. The government requires a cash balance of $100,000 to start a business. Besides, why should I continue to work to help this country. All these people have done since I arrived here was try to screw me over. I am trying to find employment elsewhere. I've wasted enough time with these people.

Anyway, my advice, stay clear of Hartford Institute. It's a bad place. (In business school, we would say that the Entity is corrupt.)

[shaowmaster]

Speaking Mongolian is an advantage in this country.... I was never ripped of or overpriced. Even if the Altai Hotel in Altai has a foreigners price list I could obtain the local'S price of 12.000 Tugrik a night instead 18.000 for foreigners. Maybe it depends also on personal behaviour or your ethnics. After having hiked for more than 4 weeks through entire Mongolia the worst thing that happened to me was a silly girl vomiting on the passengers clothes on a bus ride from Bayanhongor to UB. Sometimes you must have luck: sitting in a bus, I was asked by chance about business....

some hours later I got the business cards from a Mobicom Manager and a XAAC bank manager. You definitely need to know such people, otherwise you meet the wrong ones.

AFter some days I made friends with an official from the commerce chamber, and I have met my girlfriend. All of this was by chance :-)

To start business it's good to have the right nationality - Germany and Mongolia have a bilateral agreement for trade and commerce, but with the USA they don't have it.

During the russian occupation (which ended in 1990) about 70% of the engeneers and scientists were educated in Russia, the other 30% in the former socialist East Germany (the GDR). So the actual gouverments keep close relations....

Anyway, it takes lot of time to deal with incompetent officials, and furthermore I on my own have no Idea nor the money.

100.000$ is more than a life income of a qualified worker in Mongolia, so lot of people try to rip you off. A mongolian friend told me: not to talk about (having) money in public (in Mongolia), that attracts automatically some evil people trying some tricks on you.

Back to the business school - this is capitalism at it's best. Not a good place for a long-term stay. A basic rule for pure capitalism is to increase the income, and to decrease the expenses. Even by not-upgrading a computer with some memory.

[lmbeharry]

You and I have different views of capitalism. My view: Objectivist capitalism:trading value for value (and never ripping people off).

So it's pointless to argue. We (you and I) have different perspectives.

Go to this link: Capitalism Magazine: "Francisco's Money Speech" by Ayn Rand

Kindest regards.