The Isles International University/Université (IIU), formerly known as Irish International University and European Business School, is an unaccredited university operating currently in Ireland.Eyal Ben Cohen and Rachel Winch,
Diploma and Accreditation Mills: New Trends in Credential Abuse
". Verifile Limited and Accredibase. March 2011. Page 20. In April 2018, '' The Irish Times'' described the organisation as a "bogus university" that "targets overseas students with the promise of earning an Irish university qualification online that holds 'international recognition'". It was described as "An international education scam" by the BBC in an investigation in 2008. Founded in 1996, the IIU has no campus of its own in Ireland but works with unspecified partner institutions abroad. When talking about the IIU to a BBC reporter, its "honorary chancellor,"

Jeff Wooller Herbert Jeffrey Wooller (born 6 March 1940) is an English accountant and educationalist. He is noted for his accountancy tuition initiatives, and for campaigning for reform of his professional institute, the Institute of Chartered Accountants i ...

, said in 2007 after he was terminated that: "The whole thing's dodgy."Nigel Morris, According to its website the IIU is still in operation although, in response to the report shown on the BBC, it has removed some material in 2008.Damian Wild,
Jeff Wooller's response
, Accountancy Matters, a blog from ''Accountancy Age'' January 2008. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 31 July 2008. The IIU is run by an "executive president," who has been described by Malaysian news media as "a Malaysian businessman" and by Verifile and Accredibase as a "Malaysian professor".Teh Eng Hock, et al.,
Got money, got degree
, ''The Star'' (Malaysia), 23 August 2009. Accessed 24 July 2011. IIU, according to Wooller is not set up by him.

History

The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization says of the Irish International University that it is located in Malaysia and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and that:

The Irish government has requested that Malaysia close this entity on grounds that it is neither Irish nor a university. It has obtained a business license in a Swiss canton, but is not a Swiss university.Unauthorized Schools and Invalid Degrees
", Oregon Student Assistance Commission, Office of Degree Authorization. Accessed 28 March 2013.

Irish International University (or Irish International University of Europa) was renamed Isles International University. In 2011, iiuedu.ie, the top page of the Irish International University (with an Irish

top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...

) said at its foot "Isles Internationale Universite ic and had a link labeled "Enter Website" that pointed to the website of Isles International University (iiuedu.ac, with an Ascension Island top-level domain), which said at its foot "Isles Internationale Universite ic(European Union) Limited"; in early 2012, it no longer redirected elsewhere. The Office of Degree Authorization of Oregon says of the Isles International University that it is located in St Kitts and Malaysia.

In the news

It was reported in the press on 7 January 2008 that businesswoman

Mary Chapman Mary Chapman was the Chief Executive of the Chartered Management Institute in the UK from 1998 to 2012. Biography Mary Chapman is a Chartered Director who, since 2008, has served as a non-executive board member for public organisations inclu ...

, chief executive of the

Chartered Management Institute The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. The major membership classes are ''Member'', ''Fellow'' - for those with significant expertise - and ''Companion'' - the most sen ...

(CMI), had been hoodwinked into attending and handing out certificates at a degree ceremony. Chapman agreed to be guest of honour at the ceremony held at the Divinity School at the University of Oxford. Pictures of her in attendance, which were posted on the university's website, have now been removed. The ceremony was also attended by an undercover reporter and actor from the BBC. The CMI "severed all links" to the IIU and that the University of Oxford banned the IIU from using its premises again. A Malaysian, described by the ''Sunday Star'' as a "prominent public figure" and "leading academic", who had received an honorary degree from Irish International University in 2001 was surprised to be told (in 2009) that the university was considered to be a scam. He told a newspaper reporter that he had attended a graduation ceremony at the University of London and that the school seemed "very credible". A BBC London News investigation by reporter

Angela Saini Angela Saini (born in London, 1980) is a British science journalist, broadcaster and the author of books, of which the fourth, ''The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality'', was published in 2023. Saini has worked as a reporter and presenter fo ...

discovered that at its advertised Dublin campus address there was only a mailbox. The investigation also found that the IIU was accredited by "Quality Assurance Commission UK Limited", owned by the IIU's executive president and nothing more than a mailbox and a small website. In 2009, it was listed as a diploma mill by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Isles Internationale Universite in Ireland

Isles Internationale Universite in Malaysia (IIUM), also called Isles International University in Malaysia, describes itself as "a non profit making international organisation dedicated to cross-cultural experience with a global perspective in leadership & enterpreneurialship" ic The IIUM website mentions the Accreditation Syndicate for Education and Training (ASET), whose sole address in Malaysia is identical to that of IIUM.

European Business School Cambridge

The European Business School Cambridge, or European Business School (Cambridge), is an offshoot of IIU.Isabel Shapiro, "Fake 'Oxbridge educations' for sale over the internet," ''Varsity'', 18 January 2008.
PDF
Accessed 24 July 2011.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.iiu-edu.eu/
Uk LTD registered by Uk Legalization Limited
Unaccredited institutions of higher learning Educational institutions established in 1996 Confidence tricks 1996 establishments in Ireland