Warnborough College

1973–1996: Oxford

Warnborough College was founded in Oxford, England, in 1973 by Brenden Tempest-Mogg, an Australian who had attended Hertford College University of Oxford in 1970. 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. Other offerings included Warnborough College International Summer Schools and a venue for summer conferences. 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. The Boars Hill facilities included a lodge for the teaching staff and two Victorian Gothic mansions, one used as the women's dorm and one used as a men's dorm and for classes.

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

1997–2005: London and Canterbury

In 1997 Warnborough University was registered as a limited company in Ireland, directed by Brenden Tempest-Mogg and Kee Guan Ng, a Malaysian national 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. 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". 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.

Affiliates

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.

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. The Australian state of New South Wales included Warnborough on a list of five "unrecognized universities".

Up to October 2012 the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization named Warnborough in its listing of unaccredited universities, 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."

United Kingdom college

Warnborough College UK is located in Canterbury, Kent.

Accreditation

Warnborough College UK is accredited by the Accreditation Service for International Colleges and is designated as an "ASIC Premier College". 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. 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. In April 2012, Warnborough UK was inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) for Private Further Education reporting to the UK Department of Education and the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) that it "met expectations for the quality of education". Warnborough College is licensed by the UKBA to sponsor overseas students to study in the United Kingdom. In 2012, Warnborough College was accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English.

Irish college

Warnborough College Ireland is located in Dublin. From 2006 to 2008, it rented offices from All Hallows College in Drumcondra but All Hallows said it would not renew Warnborough's lease after August 2008. In February 2008, the Irish Independent reported that All Hallows officials were concerned about the college's presence on All Hallows' grounds. At All Hallows' request, Warnborough removed photographs of All Hallows from its website.

Accreditation

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."

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".

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

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

Controversy

In 1995 it was alleged by several American students that Warnborough misled them into believing it was affiliated with Oxford University. When students discovered that Warnborough had no connection with Oxford University about fifteen or twenty of them immediately withdrew from the college with some intending to sue for refunds. The college denied that it had claimed any association with Oxford University.

Although the college continued to deny any misrepresentation, Oxford University threatened Warnborough College with a lawsuit over these alleged misrepresentations and the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board sued Warnborough. The lawsuit resulted in a judgement against Warnborough College by the Superior Court of King County, Washington of nearly $300,000.

On 4 October 1995 the United States Department of Education took emergency action against and then, in 1996, terminated the eligibility of Warnborough College to participate in the federal student financial assistance programmes under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 on the basis that it was not a degree-granting foreign institution; its credits were not freely transferable to eligible US universities; and it had no eligible one-year vocational programmes. It also fined the college $40,000 for failing to make refunds to students in accord with Title IV and for misrepresentations to students.

Hertford College was reported to be pursuing legal action against Warnborough College to recover a property rental debt of 6,000 pounds. Other creditors hired a private detective to track down the principals after they returned to Australia. The Boars Hill properties were repossessed by creditors and its corporate owner, Oxford International Educational Enterprises Ltd, directed by brothers Brenden and Daryl Tempest-Mogg and their mother, Ethel Tempest-Mogg, was wound up in a petition by the Inland Revenue. In 1996, Warnborough relocated temporarily to offices rented from the New Road Baptist Church in central Oxford. The Tempest-Moggs returned to Australia in July 1996 and the New Road office closed in August 1996. In October 1996 Warnborough went into liquidation.