Starting 1 July 2019, Kaplan Professional’s status as an Approved Training Organisation (APO) for Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) in Singapore will be suspended for a period of 12 months due to ‘serious lapses’, said SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) in a statement on 11 June.
SSG, the agency that coordinates and implements the lifelong-learning SkillsFuture initiative, said that Kaplan’s accreditation will be revoked and that funding from SSG for all their WSQ courses will be ceased for that same period.
The statement noted that Kaplan was suspended from delivering courses under the Leadership and People Management WSQ framework back in December 2018 for a period of six month. It did not elaborate why.
Later in March 2019, SSG says it conducted further investigations and audit checks on Kaplan’s delivery of other WSQ courses and found ‘serious lapses’. Again, there was no elaboration. SSG decided to suspend Kaplan’s ATO status, disallowing it from offerings any WSQ courses from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020.
In response to questions, SSG said Channel NewsAsia, “The outcome of SSG’s investigations and further audit checks indicated that Kaplan Professional’s conduct of WSQ assessments was not consistent with SSG’s guidelines for WSQ delivery.”
Kaplan, on the other hand, told CAN that it had conducted its own review following the audit by SSG and found that several trainers had adopted assessment practices that were not in compliance with SSG’s standards.
Associate Professor Rhys Johnson, chief operating officer and provost of Kaplan Singapore said, “We accept and will comply with the requirements of SSG in the matter”.
“We are disappointed that such instances occurred despite a rigorous programme implemented over past months aimed at ensuring such non-compliance could not occur for WSQ courses,” he added.
“We apologise sincerely for any inconvenience this may cause impacted learners.”
What about Kaplan Professional students?
In their statement, SSG said that Kaplan is expected to reach out to learner enrolled in WSQ courses which will be completed by 30 June 2019 to apprise them of the situation and place them with other WSQ ATOs to minimised disruption.
Anyone who wants and alternative arrangement is encouraged to contract contact Kaplan Professional directly.
CNA reported that Kaplan will put in place a plan to facilitate transition arrangements and ensure that their affected students will be able to continue their training uninterrupted, adding that the suspension only affects WSQ courses.
“All other courses will operate as per normal …” said Kaplan Professional.
