College accused of 'abusing' student loans system shuts

BUT LEGAL WIN MEANS IT COULD RETURN AS MD CONSIDERS NEXT STEPS FOR CAMPUS

- By JOSHUA HARTLEY

A COLLEGE accused of “abusing” the student loans system has closed despite a key legal win against the Government that could allow it to return.

Oxford Business College on Carlton Road - which had franchising agreements that allowed pupils to get a university degree and funding - was told that its pupils would no longer be eligible for student loans after what Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson branded as action to “stamp out any abuse of the student support system”.

The senior Labour minister's statement from April - which alleged the network of colleges, including Nottingham’s, had “fallen well short” on assessing students’ English skills and monitoring their attendance - said enrollees would have until September to transfer to somewhere their studies would be funded.

This prompted the private educator to quietly wind down operations at the St Ann’s building and there is now no trace of teachers or students, nor the logos and slogans that had once plastered its walls.