More than 130 former employees of the Singapore-based edtech company that Byju’s bought last year claim that the company misrepresented a course given by IIT-Bombay as a postgraduate programme.
When searching the internet for executive education programmes, 34-year-old working professional Anirudh Singh (name changed) noticed a pop-up ad for a postgraduate programme (PGP) at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B).
“On the main page, everywhere, you would see Great Learning advertising it as a PGP from IIT -Bombay. They had an entry procedure, where we were asked to take a basic test and all and then our classes started,” said Singh.
“It was a six-month course, where we were charged around Rs 1.53 lakh including GST (goods and services tax) and all that. But the certificate that we got after the course nowhere mentioned it as an IIT-B PGP course. It only said it was a CEP (Continuing Education Program) course by IIT- Bombay. I already had a different CEP certificate, why would I do it again? I wanted a PGP from IIT- Bombay and I didn’t get that,” Singh added.
When Singh clicked the advertisement, he was directed to the website of Great Learning, a Singapore-based company that offers online courses for higher education and professional development that Byju’s acquired last year for $600 million.
There are more besides Singh. More than 130 former students claim that Great Learning deceived them by passing off a course from the IIT-Continuing B’s Education and Quality Improvement Programme (CE&QIP) as a PGP.
While the course is listed on the IIT-B website as a component of the CE&QIP programme, Great Learning pamphlets list it as a PGP from the IIT-Bombay.
To be certain, Great Learning emailed users a sample of the certificate, which identified the course as a CE&QIP course from IIT-B, before accepting admissions.
Alumni said that despite this, the Byju’s-owned company repeatedly distributed flyers and digital marketing to the students misrepresenting the course as a PGP programme.
Alumni have complained to the consortium, and an IEC source confirmed this. If their complaints aren’t resolved, the alumni are also considering legal action against Great Learning for misrepresenting the course.
According to a Great Learning spokesman, IIT-Bombay and Great Learning agreed on the program’s name. A notification from the IEC was also acknowledged by the representative, who added that the problem had been fixed “as needed.”
“All executive programs at IIT-Bombay are conducted by CEP, which is the executive education arm of IIT-Bombay and this is true for this program as well,” the spokesperson said.
