In early September 2021 India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CIB) arrested seven directors and employees of educational consultancy Affinity Education Pvt Ltd, on suspicion of offences of criminal conspiracy and cheating by impersonation.
This is a big story in India, and has been running regularly across multiple media channels since the story broke.
It is alleged that the suspects helped students cheat on the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) which is a national computer based test for admission to undergraduate programs in engineering, architecture and planning across India. The test is conducted four times each year by the National Testing Agency.
It is important to note that these are allegations only at this point, and those accused are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
In the “First Information Report” issued by the CIB, the company name of the education agency, and its listed addresses match to this website – Affinity Education.
The Affinity Education website notes that it provides both study in India, and study abroad services to students. It claims to have over 650 university “tie-ups”. The website does not appear to provide a list of the universities or other educational institutions that Affinity Education represents directly, or other partnerships it has in place (e.g. with aggregators).
AgentBee has contacted Affinity Education to request a comment on the allegations.
Manage your education agent risk
This post is drawn from more detailed content and analysis in AgentBee’s Agent Check database. It contains over 300 reports on education agents around the world, focusing on:
- performance – e.g. visa approval rates
- incidents of unprofessional and/or dishonest conduct.
Each report includes:
- agency/business name
- names of individuals implicated in the incident, and
- a detailed incident report.
You can use the database to protect your institution and prospective students by running a check on your new and current education agents.
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Source: Times of India