Webb-site Reports

Choo-choo! From yesterday's story on Barrington University, we move down the track to unaccredited Kensington University, expelled from California and shut down by Hawaii, from which the MTR Operations Director has a degree in engineering. He is also an adjunct professor at a HK university!

MTR Director's Dodgy Degree (updated)
27 April 2010

Update 29-May-2016

Following yesterday's story on Barrington University and Mengniu Dairy, today's Dodgy Degree award goes to Andrew McCusker, the Operations Director of MTR Corporation Limited (MTRC, 0066), the Government-controlled railway operator. He "holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Kensington University in the United States".

Kensington University, Inc. (KU) was an unaccredited company incorporated in Hawaii and formerly known as Kensington International University, Inc. and Kensington University (Hawaii), Inc.. On 29-Oct-2003 KU was ordered by the First Circuit Court of Hawaii to be shut down following a complaint by the Hawaii state Office of Consumer Protection which said:

"Defendant KU is not now or never has been accredited by a recognized accrediting agency or association recognized by the United States Secretary of Education."

According to a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times in 1996, KU's Californian predecessor (of the same name) was a company founded by lawyer Alfred Calabro and was once operated from an office in Glendale, California, but was ordered to be closed by the state's Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (CPPVE). This followed a 2-year unsuccessful battle after KU submitted, for the first time, an application for degree-awarding status to CPPVE on 12-Jul-1993. CPPVE was created by California's somewhat failed effort to clean up its diploma mills problem in the form of the Postsecondary and Vocation Reform Act of 1989, which became effective on 1-Jan-1991.

KU eventually fled to Hawaii in 1996, and made an unsuccessful appeal in the California Court of Appeal in 1997. In any event, CPPVE was not an accreditation agency recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. KU is on the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization list of unaccredited degree suppliers. It is also on the Michigan Civil Service Commission list of unacceptable degrees. The Internet Archive has copies of Kensington's old web site, last updated on 23-Jun-2003.

Mr McCusker joined MTRC as Operations Engineering Manager in 1987. His degree was first mentioned by MTRC in the announcement on 20-Sep-05 of his appointment as Operations Director. The degree has been repeated in each annual report, including the 2009 annual report. We find it somewhat mind-boggling that MTRC apparently repeats any credentials presented by its senior staff without bothering to verify the credibility of those credentials.

On 28-Apr-2009, MTRC put out a press release announcing that:

"Hong Kong Polytechnic University is honouring the decades of engineering excellence of MTR Operations Director Mr Andrew McCusker by appointing him as Adjunct Professor at the University for a term of three years."

So now he is "Professor McCusker". Mr McCusker is the only person we could find with a KU degree in any HK-listed company's corporate documents, so it's safe to say there isn't much of an almuni club in HK. He may well be a highly experienced and competent engineer; certainly the MTRC seems to think so; but he might benefit from dropping his claim to a degree in engineering.

Update, 29-May-2016

Almost 6 years on from this story, and despite Webb-site Reports having pointed it out to HK Polytechnic University on 22-Feb-2016, its web site still lists Mr McCusker (now retired from MTRC) under "Adjunct Staff" as follows:

However, they have edited his biography to remove a claim, seen in the internet archive, that:

"Mr McCusker holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Kensington University in the United States and is a chartered member of both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers of the United Kingdom and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (U.K.)."

According to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers web site, you normally need at least a bachelor's degree to become a Chartered Engineer - and presumably they mean a real one.

MTR Director's Dodgy Degree (updated) 27 April 2010

Update, 29-May-2016

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MTR Director's Dodgy Degree (updated)
27 April 2010