HvA announces fraud investigation
The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) starts an inquiry into malpractices committed by an English teacher.
An English teacher at HvA’s Business and Economics faculty that was responsible for reviewing the exams of his students would have made up notes doing it. ‘Students knew something was wrong because the teacher couldn’t hand them back their exams while unexpectedly giving them a high note,’ a member of the faculty’s student council says.
According to the manager of HvA’s study track ‘commercial economy’ Marlies Sandee the English teacher made a ‘mess of his administration’. He fell ill this spring and many students were waiting for their notes. Sandee decided to pay the teacher a visit at home to claim his administration. ‘We couldn’t find many of the exams and notes in his administration,’ Sandee says. Therefore it is not clear if the notes the teacher registered in the official registration software are accurate.
Students who were not attributed a note yet were offered the possibility to hand in their papers again. If they did not have the papers themselves any more, or in case of, for example, oral exams, they had to do their exams again. It is not clear how many students had to redo their work. Sandee expects it to be a number of about twenty students.
Five years
Marlies Sandee however refers to the claim made by the student council and some former students that the teacher made up many of the notes as ‘rumors’. She also says she never suspected the teacher to make up notes, but says she does not want to exclude it either. ‘The Examining Board will inquire with employees who worked together with this teacher to see whether they can confirm the rumors.’
The malpractices were committed during the five years the teacher worked for the HvA. At performance evaluations the teacher got bad reviews from his managers, ‘but there was never enough reason to intervene’ Sandee says. After Sandee informed the teacher in December last year that she received complaints on the way he dealt with exams, the teacher called in sick. Folia wrote its story based on several sources. When confronted with publication the HvA decided to announce an inquiry.
