Business school ‘lacked resources’ to deliver promised courses

A UK “business school” has withdrawn its application to register with the Office for Students (OfS) after the regulator found it lacked clear plans and resources to deliver the courses promised to students.

King Stage Limited has also been referred to Trading Standards because it was advertising master’s degrees it was not authorised to award.

The findings were included in a case report published by the OfS on 18 March relating to the provider’s application for registration, which was lodged in April 2023.

Quality assessments conducted by the English sector regulator as part of the process identified potential issues with the business courses it was offering from its base in Greenwich.

At the time King Stage – which advertises itself as a business school on its website – had just five students enrolled on a level 7 diploma in international business and sustainability.

The OfS said it “lacked clear processes or plans to produce, monitor and review course content” and “for effective delivery of its qualifications”.

The school had also “demonstrated a lack of understanding about the qualification being advertised and delivered,” the report adds.

King Stage was deemed to have “insufficient resources, academic support and engagement processes to ensure that students received a high quality academic experience to succeed in and beyond higher education”.

And its website and prospectus “contained potentially misleading information for students”.

The OfS highlighted how it was advertising masters’ level courses – which typically comprise 180 credits – but, on closer scrutiny of course documentation, the programmes at King Stage were found to be only 120 credits.

Use of the word “degree” was also criticised, given King Stage was not a registered provider at the time, nor had degree-awarding powers.

“While there was no evidence of malicious intent from the provider, we considered that the way in which the provider was advertising its courses was potentially misleading for both its existing and future students,” the OfS report says.

Since the referral to Trading Standards, it says King Stage had “taken steps to update its website to improve the accuracy of information available to students”.

The provider withdrew its application for registration with the OfS on 19 January and the regulator said it had not “made any decisions about King Stage Limited’s compliance with the initial conditions of registration or whether it should, or should not be, registered with the OfS”.

King Stage was contacted for comment. 

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com