Poor Hun Sen's deceased mother ... her ungrateful son dedicated a bogus honorary doctor to her

Addressing the Conferment of the Honorary Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science

10 April 2004
By Hun Sen
From Cambodia New Vision, April 2004 issue

Today, I have a great honor and pleasure to be conferred an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Political Science by the Irish International University of the European Union which is based in Dublin of the United Kingdom. On this wonderful occasion, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia and m y own self, may I extend my deepest gratitude to the Irish International University, the Review and Evaluation Committee, as well as to all the Professors who are the faculty members, for the great honor the University conferred on me.

Indeed, this great honor also belongs to the Royal Government, the People and the entire Kingdom of Cambodia. More over, this prideful honor also highlight that we must work hard and make sacrifice for the cause of strengthened peace, stability, democracy, respect for human rights and human dignity, as well as sustainable and equitable development in Cambodia. With this great honor and the responsibility of the Royal Government and People of Cambodia in implementing far-reaching reforms in priority sectors, as well as with the blessing of His Majesty NORODOM SIHANOUK, the King of Cambodia and Her Majesty NORODOM MONINEATH SIHANOUK, the Queen of Cambodia, Cambodia has stepped forward with strong hope for future and confidence on the path of reform and development, progress and prosperity for our people.

Cambodia has invested considerable time and efforts over the past decades, overcoming uncountable threats, difficulties and obstacles to rehabilitate and rebuild the country from the devastation left by the genocidal regime and decades of war, and thus far achieving full peace and firm economic stability.

Specifically, in our effort to overcome obstacles on this difficult path over the past 5 years, we have faced many challenges. As a result, with our strong determination and steadfast implementation of the “Triangle Strategy”, we have created a favorable environment and prerequisites for Cambodia, both domestically and internationally, to step forward on the path of reforms and sustainable development, with strong hope and confidence.

Through our win-win policy, we has successfully overcome all the challenges and constraints thus attaining considerable and prideful results which are now having positive impacts on the fabrics of the society, the culture of peace, safety, social order and respect for democracy, human rights and dignity, as well as on the cooperation and development.

In a shortest period, if one compared with the long history of any developed country, without hesitation we can show to our international partners that Cambodia is now capable to participate in the regional and world affairs in equal footing. All these have opened up a “new horizon of opportunities” that provides the hope for future through increased confidence on Cambodia, -- resulting in the increased trade, investment and tourism inflows into Cambodia.

These are the factors contributing to job creation and income generation for Cambodian workers, -- thus finally help reducing the poverty and increasing the welfare of people. All these indeed present the success of the RGC in implementing the “Triangle Strategy”, which is also an ample “diamond opportunity” for Cambodia to promote long term development, -- a firm foundation for the Royal Government to move forward into its third mandate.

It is true that we cannot address all the consequences of war, the genocide and internal conflicts which had destroyed Cambodia in almost 3 decades, in a period of four years, or in one day or one month or in even one year. We need more time and efforts than that.

Thus, the next government will really need to maintain the momentum of development and advance on the achievements Cambodian people have difficultly attained so far. Thus from this point of view, further strengthening of the momentum of reforms which have been successful to be fast tracked, expanded and deepened, will be very crucial for the sustainability of the development and the speed of poverty reduction. In this context, while poverty reduction is needed to ensure social equity and justice, it has also become the art of “an innovative and lively economic management”.

Thus, the most challenge faced by the government in its development efforts is poverty reduction, and especially the improvement in the quality of life of the fast growing Cambodian population. Moreover, the Royal Government is aware of and considers the poverty as a serious economic loss which is morally unacceptable and causes separation in the society. Thus on this philosophy, we have introduced the poverty reduction strategies, which has the following key elements:

1. Further strengthen peace, security, stability and social order through specific measures, aimed at improving the rule of law, protection of human rights and democracy, in order to create such a favorable political and security environment for the long term sustainable development.
2. Ensure long term sustainable, higher economic growth, between 6 -7 % annually.
3. Equitable distribution of fruits from the growth among the have and have not, the urban and the rural, and men and women.
4. Ensure sustainable management and use of natural resource, and sustainable environment.
   

In the context of the above mentioned poverty reduction strategy, it is clear that the next government will continue fine-tune and sharpen its policies on the path of reforms in all sectors for the development and poverty reduction. On behalf of the Irish International University’s Honorary PhD Candidates, I wish to deeply and most respectfully thank His Majesty NORODOM SIHANOUK, the King of Cambodia and Her Majesty NORODOM MONINEATH SIHANOUK, the Queen of Cambodia, who are the source of endless knowledge for me; and I wish them longevity to be with us all. I wish also to dedicate the to day honor to the Senate and the National Assembly, in particular, to Samdech CHEA SIM and Samdech HENG SAMRIN and other CPP Leaders who have provided advice and guidance for my actions. I would like to pass on the honor of this award to all my advisers and assistants, including civil servants at all levels, RCAF personnel and all Cambodian people, who have been supporting my leadership and the place where I have learned a lot.

I wish also to dedicate this achievement to my deceased mother and my beloved father, as well as to my brothers and sisters, that all what I have today indeed belong to them and to the entire our family. I would like also share this pleasure today with my wife, BUNRANY HUN SEN, and my children who are always with me, in every moment of my life, both in the most difficult or joyful time.

Once again, please allow me to express my deep gratitude t o the Irish International University for this great honor. Specifically, I thank Professor H. Sandhu, the Chancellor and Executive President, Professor Joel Redding, Special Awarding Secretary, Dr. Hashim Ahmad, Secretary General of the International Academic Board, Dr. Mazaki Ujud, Secretary of Special Award, and Dr. Edwin Varo, Coordinator for Special Award of the Irish International University, who have come over here to bestow the honor on me. In closing, on the eve of upcoming Khmer New Year I extend to you all, Samdech, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Success, Happiness and Prosperity. I also wish you all, who present in this conferment, the five gems of Buddhist blessing.

Shhh... Don't tell PM Hun Sen he was duped into accepting bogus honorary doctor from IIU, he was so proud ot it

The university staged an award ceremony in Oxford (Photo: BBC) ...

... and also in Phnom Penh
(Photo: Extracted from Hun Sen's Cambodia New Vision, April 2004)

Bogus university duped top businesswoman into handing out its degrees

The CEO of the Chartered Management Institute handed back the honorary doctorship she was awarded by a bogus university

January 7, 2008
By Dominic Kennedy The Times (UK)

A leading businesswoman has been embarrassed into handing back an honorary doctorship she was awarded by a bogus university.

Mary Chapman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, agreed to be guest of honour at the “graduation ceremony” for the Irish International University.

But the institution, which hires rooms at Oxford for its degree events, is neither Irish nor a university. It encourages foreigners to spend thousands of pounds coming to Britain to study for worthless qualifications.

Ms Chapman, who since 1998 has run Britain’s 73,000-strong association for managers, previously known as the British Institute of Management, was hoodwinked into handing out certificates at last year’s degree ceremony.

The Irish International University put her picture on its website to help to recruit more overseas applicants. The University of Oxford has banned the self-styled independent university from using its premises.

Private colleges offering its courses are on Britain’s official Register of Education and Training Providers. Although the institution is unaccredited, hundreds of students have been given educational visas to enter Britain. By 2009 all colleges wishing to bring in overseas applicants will need to be accredited. The Irish International University’s website boasts of a campus in Dublin but the address is only a mailbox. Universities in Ireland must be endorsed by the education ministry. However, a loophole in Irish law allows businesses to register names with “university” in their titles.

The university’s web pages claim that its degrees are backed by the “Quality Assurance Commission”. The body was traced to an office in North London where a woman was answering phones on behalf of various companies; there were no signs that a commission existed.

The university’s honorary chancellor and head of its council, known as “His Excellency Baron Knowth”, was tracked by BBC London to Monte Carlo, where he is a tax exile. He also has a £1.2 million townhouse in Kensington, West London.

Talking to an undercover reporter, the honorary chancellor, in fact a chartered accountant called Jeffrey Wooller, admitted: “Of course it’s dodgy. So long as they’re happy, what difference does it make? It’s not accredited so it’s not recognised anywhere.

“They [students] get their degree, they go to the convocation and employers accept the degrees. They’re happy, they tell their friends and the university multiplies. The university is giving value for money.” Students work towards their qualifications although questions have been raised about the academic rigour involved.

Hardeep Singh Sandhu, executive president of the university’s governing council, said the university had never claimed to be accredited in Britain but he would be happy for it to be inspected. References to the Dublin campus and Quality Assurance Commission had now been removed from the website. The Chartered Management Institute said Ms Chapman attended the graduation ceremony in good faith. Her organisation had now severed all links with the bogus university.

IIU, which bestowed honorary PhD to Hun Sen, revealed by BBC to be a scam

Hun Sen proudly accepting an honorary PhD from the bogus Irish International University

Bogus university scam uncovered

Monday, 7 January 2008
Investigation
By Nigel Morris BBC London Investigations Producer

An international education scam that targets foreign students who come to study in the capital has been exposed by a BBC London investigation.

The bogus Irish International University (IIU), which offers sub-standard and worthless degrees, has been allowed to flourish in the UK - virtually unchecked by the government - for the last seven years.

Although the organisation is unaccredited, hundreds of students have been given educational visas to enter Britain and take its exams at private colleges in London.

The IIU, which has 5,000 students worldwide and thousands of graduates, maintains the illusion of a valid education through its elaborate but highly misleading website.

This illusion is enhanced by the university's continued use of Oxford and Cambridge facilities to stage its award ceremonies.

After each event photographs appear on the IIU website showing happy students receiving awards at the UK's best seats of learning.

Our investigation took us from London to Dublin, Oxford and finally Monte Carlo in search of those behind the IIU.

A BBC journalist and an actor posing as fake academic were invited to the IIU's award ceremony which, surprisingly, was held at the Divinity School, next to the Bodleian Library, in the very heart of Oxford University.

The ceremony was due to go ahead at Cambridge, but after BBC London alerted the university authorities the event was cancelled. That did not stop the IIU switching venues to Oxford at the last minute.

Dublin campus?

In Oxford, our journalist and actor secretly filmed the award ceremony and recorded meetings with university boss and Executive President Professor Hardeep Singh Sandhu, a Malaysian businessman and faculty member Dr Edwin Varo.

Dr Varo, told us that the IIU was not bogus and was registered in Ireland and that it had applied to the government and had been given approval to use the word university.

In Dublin, Sean O'Foghlu, Chief Executive of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, told BBC London: "To use the word university in a title it needs approval from our Department of Education and Science - no such approval has been given by our department."

The university website clearly stated that the university had a campus in Dublin. We visited the address given by the IIU on its website - there was no campus, just a mailbox.

"When you look at the website, it's a figment of someone's imagination." - Professor Jeffrey Wooller

The website also claimed that the IIU's educational programmes were accredited and quality controlled by the impressive sounding QAC-UK Ltd - the Quality Assurance Commission, based in North London.

During secretly filmed meetings, Professor Sandhu told our undercover team that the QAC was an "independent body" that maintained the quality of education in the UK and elsewhere.

Faculty member, Dr Varo explained that the QAC staff: "Focus more on your curriculum - on your teaching; focus on your evaluation - they focus on your faculty - who are your faculty - what amount of real teaching takes place."

The QAC website listed an impressive roll-call of staff including the QAC Commissioner General and an Acting Commissioner General.

Our reporter visited the QAC and instead of finding a commissioner general we found four telephonists fielding calls for countless companies at yet another virtual office.

A further check at Companies House revealed that far from the being "independent" the QAC is in fact owned by university boss Professor Dr Sandhu.

"The UK has some of the toughest regulations in the world governing the award of higher education qualifications." - Bill Rammell, Higher Education Minister

Bona fide academic, Professor Geoffrey Alderman, gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on the subject of bogus institutions.

He told us: "Some of these colleges will say, 'sure we're accredited', but when you say 'by whom?', they name an accrediting institution which in fact they themselves own."

University boss Professor Sandhu, who sits on the governing council is a Doctor of Letters, a doctorate awarded by another unaccredited university based in the Caribbean.

His professorship is "honorary", awarded by a European association set up to give out professorships.

On the website he also called himself "Sir H Sandhu" but his knighthood was not bestowed on him by the Queen.

One person missing from the Oxford award ceremony was the university's Honorary Chancellor, His Excellency Baron Knowth - real name Professor Jeffrey Wooller - a successful chartered accountant from London.

Professor Wooller, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, owns a £1.2m townhouse in Kensington but spends most of his time living as a tax exile in Monte Carlo.

Our actor, again posing as a fake academic, arranged to meet Professor Wooller, at a hotel in Monaco. We secretly filmed this meeting.

'Dreamt up'

He told our fake academic that the IIU was not "recognised anywhere".

He admitted to our actor that the website was an illusion: "When you look at the website, it's a figment of someone's imagination. Someone's dreamt up what a university should look like, and that's what's on the website."

Professor Wooller told us that students paid a lot of money to attend the award ceremonies, adding: "If you can mention Oxford, Cambridge then the whole world thinks that it must be a good university."

He then said of the university's operation: "The whole thing's dodgy." He even said that the IIU's governing council, of which he and Professor Sandhu are both members, did not exist.

A BBC London reporter then confronted Professor Wooller:

Reporter: You said the whole thing is dodgy.

Mr Wooller: It is dodgy!

Reporter: Oh so you admit it's dodgy?

Mr Wooller: Of course it's dodgy.

He also told our reporter that he had been given his professorship by the IIU and that he had bought his "Baron" title.

Professor Wooller refused to quit as honorary chancellor stating that most IIU students were happy and that the university was good value for money.

Professor John Arnold of Loughborough University has seen coursework from an IIU graduate.

He said: "Students are paying for this, what I would regard as worthless and bogus qualifications. I would say buyer beware from the point of view of students.

"You know I really think that they'll probably be getting qualifications which are unlikely to be taken seriously at least in Western Europe."

'Banned'

Following BBC London's investigation the IIU will now no longer be allowed to use Oxford and Cambridge's facilities to stage their award ceremonies.

Oxford University issued a statement stating that they would not be renting its facilities to the Irish International University in the future.

The IIU website survives but since our investigation it has undergone a radical overhaul.

The reference to a Dublin campus has been removed, the QAC is "no longer involved with the Irish International University" and its logo no longer appears on the website.

Professor Sandhu told BBC London that the university will not renew its affiliations with any private colleges in London.

The government is promising that by 2009 all colleges wishing to bring overseas applicants into the country will need to be accredited.

Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said: "Our universities are rightly regarded as world class and any attempt by bogus institutions or conmen to tarnish this hard won reputation will not be tolerated.

"The UK has some of the toughest regulations in the world governing the award of higher education qualifications. The vast majority of private colleges in London operate lawfully and provide a high-quality service to their students.

"We are working very hard on behalf of students to ensure that all private institutions meet strict quality standards.

"Where we are not satisfied that this is the case with a particular college, we will not hesitate to investigate and if necessary, close it down.

"I would encourage all new students to carefully check the credentials of the college they wish to enrol at and if they have any concerns, contact their local trading standards team."

The full investigation can be seen in two parts on BBC London News at 6.30 pm on Monday 7 January and Tuesday 8 January.