New elite university accused of copying syllabuses

The "academic excellence" of a new private university founded to rival Oxbridge has been called into question because it will teach the same syllabuses as the University of London, which charges half the price. Fourteen celebrity professors including the philosopher A.C. Grayling are opening the New College of the Humanities (NCH) in September next year, charging students £18,000 (Dh108,428) a year. The academics who have ploughed their own money into the venture and jointly own a 54 per cent share in it insist the fee will be reflected in ‘academic excellence'. They promise a slew of incentives such as weekly one-to-one tutorials, a 10:1 student-to-lecturer ratio and 12 hours a week of contact time with lecturers. But Monday NCH was accused of listing syllabuses on its websites that are copied from the University of London's own web pages and are already on offer at Birkbeck, Goldsmiths and Royal Holloway for £9,000 a year, or less. The finding has sparked accusations of plagiarism and called into question the £18,000 a year fee. Professor Justin Champion, a senior historian at Royal Holloway college, has complained that the titles of modules he wrote have been reproduced on the NCH website. From / Gulf News