Plea to protect franchise critics

AN ACADEMIC pressure group has called for greater protection for lecturers on overseas franchised courses when they raise concerns about standards.

The Council for Academic Freedom and Academic Standards made its plea after looking into the case of Gal Chotrani, the lecturer who was sacked following his complaints to Bradford University over standards on one of its franchised courses in Singapore.

Mr Chotrani has also been threatened with legal action for defamation by the Management Development Institute of Singapore where he was a part-time lecturer on the BSc (Hons) Business and Management Studies course.

Bradford University has said it is happy about the running of the course, but has been looking into the allegations made by Mr Chotrani. It declined to comment further while the issue was subject to legal action.

CAFAS says Mr Chotrani and other lecturers who find themselves in a similar position should be protected on the grounds of academic freedom through clauses contained in the Education Reform Act 1988.

Colwyn Williamson, CAFAS case coordinator, has raised concerns with the Department for Education and Employment, the MDIS and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

The Higher Education Quality Council is making inquiries about Bradford's adherence to the HEQC's Code of Practice for Overseas Collaborative Provision. Bradford University said this week that the MDIS course complied with the HEQC code.

A spokeswoman for the HEQC said there was "nothing in the code of practice concerning academic freedom".