Thursday 25 August 2011

The HCT 100 Scandal!

The latest HCT scandal concerns the millions of bucks that have been squandered on the pampered HCT management, when it is supposed to be used for the benefit of the students. The money, raised through the HCT100 project, is supposed to be spent responsibly on scholarships, to build programs, hire international experts, and the like.

The official blurb goes like this:

The HCT 100 was established as an exclusive group within the HCT Foundation.

We invite donors to join the HCT 100 by becoming one of the founding 100 members to commit AED one million each to the HCT Foundation over three years.

A contribution at this level will demonstrate a clear and resounding commitment to the human resource development of the UAE.


So what really happens? Kamali and his cronies divvy the booty up amongst themselves! Now you know why there is a freeze on salary increments. I seriously recommend that HCT staffers go to the HCT Foundation website and begin contacting the businesses that support it. Ask them what is going on, and they will report that it is a scam.

In fact, numerous companies have started asking where the money is going. They were promised all sorts of things before the infamous signings between Sheikh Nahayan and company representatives.

However, within a couple of months of signing, most companies began asking questions. The smart companies have stopped their payments, whereas the stupid and corrupt ones believe whatever they are told and keep paying.

In fact, most of the companies who make payments are actually doing business with HCT. So HCT gives millions of dirhams in business to a company, and the company returns a small percentage back to HCT.

It’s mostly banks and larger companies participating in this, but in order for international companies to do business in the UAE, they need someone to sponsor them. The signings are a confirmation of the agreement. So it's like a kickback or paying a tribute of some sort.

The beautiful trick here is that it’s quite difficult to prove a lot of this because the 'books' aren't open to the general public. However, check out the companies supporting this Foundations scam, then see if you can find out who does business with HCT.

I am sure Melanie Swan from The National would be keen to know, as she was interested about a year ago.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not so sure about how interested Melanie Swan would be... When she was contacted about HCT's witholding of the annual salary increase at HCT (from 4% 2 years ago, to 2% last year, to nothing this year with NO notification to the faculty) she didn't seem very interested.

I could be wrong and maybe she didn't understand the implications, or feel like having an indepth follow up article to her previous articles about higher education in the UAE...

Khalifa Exile said...

Beg to differ. I've spoken to her on several occasions, but she needs more people willing to spill the beans to run a verifiable story. One voice alone is not as reliable as three or four voices.

If you're willing to contact her (on MSwan@thenational.ae) she IS prepared to run stories, but needs evidence first!

Try contacting her to report the 'unannounced' failure to pay the salary increase that HCT writes into the contracts - a clear breach of its own rules!!

Anonymous said...

Do you think Melanie might be interested in the FACT that RAK Bob and Elizabeth squandered almost 20,000 dirhams treating ALL teaching staff of RAK men's and women's colleges to Iftar at the Hillton,while thousands of prospective students are being rejected at HCT this year and HCT moans on and on about its budget and its debt? this is typical of RAK where they feed and feed and feed staff at awful compulsory dinners at the end of the semester (saying goodbye to...), beginning of semester/year to say hello to newbies.

Anonymous said...

Hey, what's happened to the story of the intellectually-rounded John, the faculty member whose lesson plan was pooh-poohed by management? The one who cried injustice, but stayed around to collect the loot? I notice it's been deleted. What are you afraid of?

Anonymous said...

"In fact, numerous companies have started asking where the money is going."

Name a few, please.


"The beautiful trick here is that it’s quite difficult to prove a lot of this because the 'books' aren't open to the general public."

Then how are we to believe your accusations?

Anonymous said...

I used to work there and know that the companies paid this as a "tribute". Companies received "exposure", the HCT appoints a "chair / a professor" with some of these grants (existing faculty). The A poor PR exercise, a facade a pretence. An insider told me(some time ago) that ADMAF must ask some questions, their honest and initial intentions with the MoU and what the HCT secretly planned to do. JP can explain this.

Anonymous said...

So, you used to work there and heard a rumor.

Who are these "numerous companies"?

Where is the evidence that Kamali pockets the money from HCT 100?

Where is the evidence of a direct link between the HCT 100 and the freeze on salary increments?

Anonymous said...

Look at what Rudy is writing
http://chronicle.com/article/Cross-Cultural-Skills-/128782/

Son of Claw said...

One of the many problems with HCT is that there are as many rumors as students. And, like our dear HCT students, they are weak and in need of support.

MAny HCT insiders could provide that necessary assistance. If they're brave enough.

We're waiting on you...

Eid Mubarak!

Anonymous said...

TWENTTY THOUSAND dirhams spent stuffng the fat rounded bellies of RAK teaches at the HILTON while Emirati students stood starving at the gates, waiting hopefully for their education, Bob and Nahyan said sorry, no, can't take you, no more money. We need to feed the teachers their Iftar first.

Anonymous said...

"Starving Emiratis"?!?!

Get a grip, man!

Anonymous said...

A note on Rudy from ADWC blog. We need to call him out on the CHE site as well.

Yes, an interesting read, that surely is. And the comments have started flowing already...

Take a look at any of the blogs and you will find that HCT is a cultural shock to many. It does not operate on any known ethical principles. Rudy is at the center of a great deal of the unethical, unprofessional behavior at HCT. It is funny that the CHE is using him as an expert. You really should find out who you are working with before you publish them

Keep your head down, dear Capo!!

Anonymous said...

You are complaining aboutr 20K aed for an iftar dinner? RAK has always had the "welcome" dinner. Usually they have a catered event... unfortunately 2 years ago that dinner gave intense food poisoning to 25 staff and faculty. So this time they did Hilton instead.

What about Dr. Bob bringing in a former student for a "students w/ special needs" 2 day seminar.... where the woman was so unprofessional she didn't bring the correct powerpoints, was randomly talking down to the instructors, providing useless information and was sooooo bad on the second day only had half of the teacher, and they were completely finished by noon because none of the teacher who were still there wanted to stay.

How much did Dr. Bob pay his former student? How much for her airfare, for her talking fee, for her hotel stay?

Khalifa Exile said...

I can remember a similar scenario at ADWC a few years back, when the Mormon Director (what was his name?!) hauled in one of his mates from Utah to give a presentation.

Not only was the presentation quite irrelevant and poorly researched, the presenter appeared to be all over the place, as if she didn't even know her own research well enough. Or perhaps she had little experience of telling so many well-experienced teachers how to do their jobs?

Even the director himself started smiling at her comical performance. Did Dr Bob permit himself a sly grin too, in realisation of the ridiculous aspect of it all?

Anonymous said...

Dear academics. Thank you for thinking of me as you discuss this very important issue, which I wrote about last year. Yes, I would indeed be interested to hear your stories. As it's posted, you'll know my email address, mswan@thenational.ae so please get in touch. Thanks to Khalifa Exile you'll also be aware that the more people telling me about an issue, the better. Please don't hesitate to get in touch. Kind regards, Melanie

Anonymous said...

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/education/pay-frozen-and-job-losses-loom-as-uae-universities-feel-the-pinch

Anonymous said...

That article is more than a year old.

Anonymous said...

I searched all the engines to find out who dr Chinn is, in relation to special needs, arabs, ghaza, etc. Nothing. Who is she? Who was she? What arrogance, apart from Bob's desperate and demented egotism, brought her to RAK to lecture ignorantly and without preparation to rows of expert teachers who knew much more than she knew?

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Rudi... it is interesting to see that the post which was very critical of his HR stewardship for HCT has been removed from the comments of the Chronicle article.

Anonymous said...

I saw that and a new response.

Was my comment removed for a reason? It was not insulting nor was it a personal attack. I simply noted that Rudi is not a person, nor is the HCT an organization, that the CHE would want to be closely associated with in terms of their ethical and professional behavior in the UAE. For example, he worked with the ADWC Associate Director to remove the Business Chair and reassign him to another College while the Chair was on vacation. Neither Rudi nor the Associate Director thought to inform the College Director or the Chair. It was their little welcome back surprise.

Anonymous said...

I used to hold one of the corporate Chair /Professorships as part of the HCT 100 foundation. The sponsoring company paid millions to HCT but I never saw a single dirham added to my paycheck besides the normal faculty salary. My suggestions for follow up were never taken into consideration. It was just a title with no value attached to it. What a sham !!!!

Anonymous said...

Last year, ADMAF wanted to endow a Chair of Journalism at ADWC.
But, as I understand it, in a meeting at ACS, Senthil Nathan and Jim Pounder declared that a sponsor could not dictate where their money went, and that in fact it would all go into "a general pool", as Jim Pounder put it.
ADMAF therefore apparently refused to hand over the money.

Anonymous said...

The CHE comments section on this topic doesn't open anymore, at least not for me.

Anonymous said...

well I can assure you that this is just the beginning. More details to come!

Delma said...

Many of us current HCT staff are looking forward to these revelations with relish!

Please don't let us all down!!

Anonymous said...

What is it going to do anyways? You'll read it, others will read it, reporters, etc. But the truth is that this blog and others can keep going. People can continue to be fired in bulk, money will be misused, egos will grow, and unfortunately the HCT students will continue to be screwed.

My feelings are that when the rebels form in the UAE, most will be HCT graduates and current students who feel that no one cares or listens. Think about it, before the current management, okay school, after not so great. Students got robbed of an education and now they either have to go back or live with it.

Anonymous said...

board of trustees being put in place to oversee the finances? Ordered by the Ruler or something?

Anonymous said...

20 000 for an iftar at the Hilton?? Come off it, 2000 at the very most.Yes RAK has a tradition of feeding staff on special occasions but it was never the highest calibre of food, not in the 11 years that I worked there anyway.

Delma said...

Aand just WHO would trust an HCT 'Board of Trustees' (September 1, 2011 5:50 AM)? It would just be another layer of TK's cronies to pay off!

Anonymous said...

Hello Melanie.

Having examined my contract and my friends contracts, it states that the annual incremental raise "may be awarded" to staff who have done a good job. Maybe that is how HCT is getting away with not paying an increment to anyone. With dodging like that in the contract it MAY explain this disrespectful behaviour from HCT's Central Services... or maybe it is due to the tremendous backlash from last year's wonderful email notification....

now a really nosy reporter might ask "does this mean that NO ONE AT HCT is doing a good enough job to get the annual incremental pay raise that everyone has ALWAYS gotten?"

Anonymous said...

Just get the word out there in ESL CAFE etc to warn new hires that you MAY OR WILL not get an increment if you join HCT. You risk being stuck at 11,000 for ever. Tell them at conferences, write to friends, advise them that HCT now occupies the lowliest status when it comes to desirable employment in the Middle East, mainly because of very bad HR decisions made by very bad HR managers in Abu Dhabi.

Anonymous said...

Should we talking about the housing allowance decrease as well? When did HCT make a HR decision that actually increased morale?

Anonymous said...

A CUT in the housing allowance? It was just about OK when I was there three years ago - how bad is it now!?

Anonymous said...

The housing allowance might have been "OK" outside of Dubai and A.D., but it was never enough for decent housing in the capital and Dubai. Many had to pay out of pocket to makeup for the shortfall.

Anonymous said...

So how much is it now in AD and Dubai? And how much are staff having to contribute from their own pockets?

Isn't it the same with he education allowance? It hasn't moved for years, maybe it's getting cut too!

Anonymous said...

It's the same allowance everywhere, which is unrealistic as you can get a huge villa in Shahjah, RAK etc. for half the cost of a dump in AD or Dubai.

I paid ten thousand annually, and as the obscenely greedy sheik MFer landlord increased the rent, I paid as much as twenty thousand, even though the liars at HCT said they would cover everything up to ten thousand. They then reneged on their promise.

Goodbye HCT, hello Qatar.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your planned move. Qatar is willing to invest in the education of its young population.

HCT is DIS-investing in the education of young Emiratis. It would prefer them to sit at home without certificates, diplomas or higher diplomas. It wants to reinvent itself as a mindless degree-bin. It will award BAs of dubious worth and MAs at laughable standards.

Some will still rememeber the days when the mission of HCT was to serve the needs of young Emiratis. As it aged, with ageing male directors, the mission of HCT transformed so that it now exists to serve its own needs, and those of its mediocre management hellbent on their career paths and retirement fund. Sad days now.

Anonymous said...

"... HCT now occupies the lowliest status when it comes to desirable employment in the Middle East."

Bullshit.

Go have a look at some of the discussions at Dave's. You'll find much, much worse.

Anonymous said...

go and Google HCT on Dave's and you'll hardly find a good word about HCT's managers, managerial lack of communication about HR issues, the lack of increment, HCT's lack of educational vision and quality; no lack of windowdressing, squandering of funds, opportunism from Associate Frauds, Rudis, Brians, Tims and Tayebs on the make... Yes, search Dave's for HCT is important advice for all potential hires.

Poodle Pelham said...

And if you just google 'ADWC', guess which blog comes up on top?!