Imagine that you applied to a college, got accepted, then went to the school’s address only to find that the “college” is actually a run-down factory. This is reality for students ”enrolled” in of several ‘bogus schools’, now established in Sweden.
After tuition fees for international students were implemented in the fall of 2011, the bogus school phenomenon has grown to a total of at least four centered in the Stockholm area.
Bridge College and Pre-International College of Stockholm are just two names of colleges which exist on their websites, but do not have real campuses. Another example of such a school can be found in Gothenburg, where a so-called Scandinavian University of Science and Technology exists. Or does it exist?
Erik Johansson from the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education explains how bogus schools have long existed in other countries such as Great Britain but has only recently seen a growing trend in Sweden. He says that they also might have a purpose:
“In the past few years, media in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the U.S. have shed light on dubious colleges and universities that are used as so-called ‘visa mills’. In other words, visa factories with the main purpose of helping foreigners–after payment–by distributing student visas, and thereby legal residence and work visas… We now have reason to believe that this trend has now reached Sweden.”
Bridge College in Stockholm, for example, claims to have a cafeteria and campus life but has no infrastructure according to Johansson. The address they offer on their web page leads to an industrial building but no school. These bogus schools aim to reach out to interested foreigners in third world countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The admissions department in Lund has occasionally come across students with false transcripts from real universities.
Admissions officer Mårten Sommelius explains,
“We handle student grades on a case by case basis. Should a situation arise where we suspect the student is providing false merits, admissions will contact the student’s university to verify this.”
Deputy director Richard Stenelo of the Division for External Relations tells that two cases are being probed for a possible connection to bogus schools.
“One student received a Fedex invoice for tuition that we could not verify.”
The unusual invoice may suggest foul play by a third party like a bogus school, especially so because students are supposed to pay their fees via a secure method.
“Our intention is for international students to pay their fees only through the student web service,” explains Stenelo.
“They are not mailed invoices.”
