A Kent university has been named in a fraudulent student loan scandal, with fake applicants targetting the UK scheme for millions.
Canterbury Christ Church (CCCU) is one of six universities where students have fraudulently secured more than £7 million over three years.
An investigation by The Sunday Times details how the Student Loans Company (SLC) has identified 268 dishonest applications which reference the university – worth £3.8 million. This includes the current academic year where CCCU is ranked first for overall fraud. So far, SLC has categorised 88 applicants as fraudulent, which amounts to £490,000, the paper reports.
It appears that some applicants have been signing up for a degree they don’t plan on studying, then take out a loan and have no intention of paying it back.
This only applies to funds paid directly to the applicant, such as maintenance and other grants.
An application can be made using the university’s name even if the person has not applied to study there.
A spokesman for CCCU, which is based in Canterbury, said the figures had only been passed to it “very recently”.
They added: “The [SLC] has not provided the university with information on either the nature or the details of these individual cases.
“The university has over 30,000 students and the figures should be considered in this context.”
It is understood that the universities were not made aware by the SLC of the fraudulent claims, which are categorised under a civil burden of proof rather than criminal.
Since 2022, the SLC has flagged 1,785 dodgy applications linked to six universities.
£22 million was identified as fraudulent – including £14.9 million that was suspended and saved.
Despite this, £7.1 million was paid directly to students.
As well as Canterbury Christ Church University, the list included Buckinghamshire New University, the University of Suffolk, Leeds Trinity University, the University of West London and Arden University.
Each educational institution said that any incidence of fraud was unacceptable, they took the misuse of public funding seriously and had strict controls to detect fraud.
This involves monitoring attendance, auditing their partners and interrogating admissions procedures.
They explained that much of the fraud was beyond their control and they too were victims.
CCCU is franchised, meaning it can subcontract certain degrees to external providers, such as private colleges.
It is supposed to make it easier for more students to access higher education and the specific subject they wish to learn.
However, according to the National Audit Office (NAO), more than half of 341 franchised institutions are unregistered with the Office for Students (OfS) – meaning they are not directly regulated.
In January, new government plans were published for consultation.
Partner organisations with 300 or more students would need to register with the OfS to ensure their courses meet “rigorous quality standards”.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “We are committed to cracking down on rogue operators who misuse public money and damage the reputation of our world-class universities.
“Franchising can be a valuable tool to widen access to higher education, and these proposals will ensure students can trust the quality of their courses, no matter where or how they choose to study.
“The credibility of our universities is at stake, but these proposals seek to protect students and safeguard taxpayer’s money, as part of our work to drive growth through our plan for change.”
It is not known how many of the fraudulent loans from students link to those enrolled with the universities directly or through the franchised providers.
KentOnline has contacted CCCU for comment.
