Ombudsman says cheating in a Victoria university threatens public air safety
Victoria's Ombudsman said on Thursday that the cheating it has uncovered on RMIT University's Aerospace program could lead to a possible compromise on public safety as questions were raised on the institution's quality of graduates.
An Ombudsman report showed that erstwhile lecturer Nihal Hana aided students in cheating their way through exams in 2008 and 2009 as it noted the teacher was a known gambling aficionado and carried substantial debts on his account, which may have been the contributing factors of his questionable disposition.
The same report said that one student from the program eventually earned a degree in Aerospace Engineer which prompted the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to air its grave concern on the possibility that unsuitable air staff could be handling jobs that could endanger the travelling public.
CASA said that in light of the disclosure made by the Ombudsman, it has issued order that no graduates from the course offered in RMIT University would be allowed to perform unsupervised duties, if and when they are employed in the airline industry.
Also, the Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association called the Ombudsman findings as a damning indictment of the institution and it urged authorities to undertake a sweeping inquiry in order to determine if public safety has been compromised indeed.
The association's representative Paul Cousins feared that the program's graduates would be joining the workforce using the skills that were the bases of their educations and "if that basis has been flawed then their interpretation of what's going on is going to be flawed."
When asked for its reactions, the RMIT University said that all the issues raised by the Ombudsman in the report have been addressed accordingly with Mr Hana even denying the purported cheating, as the university stressed that the risks cited in the report were grossly exaggerated.