Staff at a Virginia regulator recommend revoking certificate to operate of small college catering to international students after an audit uncovered concerns about academic quality.
A small Virginia college that enrolls a predominantly international student population is facing a move by state regulators to seek to shut it down after an audit uncovered academic deficiencies.
The staff of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia is advancing a recommendation to initiate processes that could lead to the revocation of Virginia International University’s certificate to operate due to concerns uncovered in the audit about academic quality, including concerns about “rampant plagiarism” by students and grade inflation; online classes that are “patently deficient” in terms of quality and content and graduate courses that are “lacking academic rigor”; and the admission of “large numbers” of students with inadequate English proficiency.
A spokeswoman for SCHEV, the state regulator for higher education in Virginia, said SCHEV’s Academic Affairs Committee will consider the staff recommendation during its meeting today and decide whether to advance it to the full council for a vote Tuesday. The council could pursue a number of possible next steps, including determining no action is necessary, changing VIU’s certification status to “conditional,” or accepting the recommendation of the staff to initiate the revocation of its certificate to operate.