FORMER DIRECTORS - PART 1

FORMER DIRECTOR FACES COURT OVER "SADDAM KICK-BACKS"

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UCU has published a briefing on the activities of Navitas. Included in the briefing is the revelation of the activities of a former Navitas director Trevor Flugge. Mr Flugge resigned his directorship on 28 November 2006 amid allegations of supplying kickbacks to the Saddam Hussein regime through the UN Oil-for-Food programme. As the UCU briefing continues:

“It was alleged that as chairman of the Australian Wheat Board, Trevor Flugge had secured lucrative contracts for Australian agriculture in Iraq through kickbacks via the Oil-for-Food Programme. Flugge was called before the Cole Inquiry [set-up to look at these allegations] in Australia and stepped down from his directorship of IBT at the same time. At the time the company said if there was no wrongdoing, Flugge would resume his position. He never did.”

Indeed Flugge and a number of his former colleagues at the AWB are now facing a court case launched by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, over these allegations.

NAVITAS DIRECTOR SPEAKS OUT

The world of profit and education according to Peter Larsen, (founding director of Navitas)

“As a young teacher with a passion for teaching mathematics I hope I made a difference – but to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure.

As a principal guiding younger teachers, I hope I made a difference but again, I am not sure.

What I am sure of, however, and I take great pride in this, is that my colleague Rod Jones, other local and interstate founders of this enterprise and I “kept the faith” in relation to our focus on quality and never compromised on this in favour of profit.

We have, I believe, changed attitudes to the private “for profit” sector of the education industry, showing that education can be delivered in a commercial environment but without jeopardizing the nature of the profession or its underpinning values in any way.

No doubt others will judge us on this, but we certainly believe that we have contributed to influencing individual and institutional attitudes in this regard. We have, I think, “made a difference” and I hope you aspire to do the same in your own fields.

It really does give you quite a “buzz’.”

Extract from Peter Larsen’s (a founding Director of IBT, now known as Navitas) acceptance speech for an Honorary Doctorate from Edith Cowan University, 16 March 2008

Maybe the “buzz” Peter Larsen is referring to has something to do with the AUS$ 60m he is reported to have amassed from the activities of Navitas.

Meanwhile, the Australian Universities Quality Agency has expressed concern that ACAP (a private college wholly-owned by Navitas) has not provide the level of support needed by their students (see separate blog post below).

FIGHTING PRIVATISATION - DEFENDING EDUCATION

BELOW IS THE TEXT OF OUR SECOND LEAFLET +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The directorate are in secret negotiations with a private sector company called Navitas (formerly known as IBT Education) to set up an “International College” at MMU. A draft contract has been prepared but the V-C has signed a “confidentiality agreement”, thus he is unable to discuss the contract openly with university staff. An agreement with a private firm will have implications not just for pay and conditions but also the quality of education at MMU.

WHAT DO NAVITAS DO?
1. Navitas is an Australian based company that proudly boasts being the first educational institution listed on the Australian Stock Exchange;
2. They establish international colleges which recruit international students on to diploma courses that once completed “guarantee” entrance onto the second year of the relevant degree programmes;
3. They also have interests/operations in employment agencies, vocational training, English language colleges and the migration advice industry. These operations cover the UK, Canada, Australia and various countries in south east Asia;
4. Their recent interim financial results presentation identifies the UK as a market with opportunities to grow their courses.

COMPETING PRIORITIES
The implication of this is that Navitas have to give greater emphasis to making a profit. All other priorities such as educational standards, student welfare and experience, or a good work environment are filtered through the need make a profit. An example of this is the Australian College of Applied Psychology (ACAP) a private college wholly owned by Navitas. A report by the Australian Universities Quality Agency expressed concern that ACAP:
1) Have a small college council (only 3 members) with no independent representation;
2) Lack sufficient resources available for student support;
3) Lack an adequate environment to allow staff to contribute to academic life (many of whom are part-time and / or on temporary contracts);
4) Do not pay equivalent “rewards” to its staff as in the rest of the sector;
5) Lack educational objectives in its strategic planning process and suffer from weak academic leadership.

An international college set-up by Navitas here at MMU will be under the same pressures to make profits and satisfy the stock market expectations. We argue that MMU can provide a better service to our international students by keeping the provision in-house."Keeping Navitas out of MMU is not just about defending pay and conditions for our colleagues. It is also about defending the quality of the education we provide here.

UCU BRANCH UNITED AGAINST PRIVATISATION

BELOW IS THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY (MMU) UCU AT OUR AGM IN JUNE:
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NAVITAS = PRIVATISATION

This meeting notes:
1) The on-going secret negotiations between Navitas and the management at MMU;
2) That any move to set-up an “international college” in partnership with a private sector firm is a form of back-door privatisation;
3) Such privatisation moves will have a detrimental affect on the student experience, will lead to a two-tier workforce and will see further attempts to privatise other academic provision.

This meeting re-states:
a) its opposition to all forms of privatisation at MMU; and
b) its support for “an education for all, publicly funded and democratically accountable”.

This meeting resolves to:
i) endorse the Navitas = Privatisation campaign;
ii) issue an open call for the management at MMUBS and MMU to end the secrecy around negotiations with Navitas and join with UCU in condemning privatisation in the HE sector;
iii) campaign against any future privatisation plans at MMU and for bringing back in-house currently outsourced facilities and services;
iv) support a NW “Challenging the Market in Education” conference, to be organised at MMU in the autumn term.