The Global Banking School is one of the UK’s most lucrative ‘universities’. But who’s footing the bill?

Dear readers — on the surface of things, the augustly-named Global Banking School is a rare modern success story in British higher education. While universities across the country struggle to balance their books, it's boom-time at GBS: the school has seen its revenues grow from £4 million to £233 million in five years, an increase of over 5000%.

At its Manchester campus in Ardwick, where more than 1,000 students study, GBS promises a “top-quality learning experience”. Whatever they’re doing appears to be working: earlier this year expansion plans were announced with the size of the college based in the city set to double. But is everything as it seems?

GBS is a key player in a growing sector: ‘franchised’ higher education providers who run courses on behalf of traditional universities, but with much lower entry requirements. Over the past couple of weeks, The Mill has been talking to staff and former staff at GBS about how the school has been able to achieve such remarkable growth.

That’s the topic of today’s story. In response to a series of questions from The Mill, GBS told us it “rejects entirely the premise of your proposed article; GBS is a well run and reputable higher education provider which operates in a fully regulated way in accordance with the norms of the sector; to suggest otherwise would be misleading, untrue and harmful to our students”.

They also pointed to the fact they have a “widening participation mission” with many students who balance their studies with work and caring opportunities, with course delivery designed around student needs, as well as the fact many of their students come from communities in areas of deprivation. “To meet their needs we ensure that they all follow a rigorous admissions process that allows us to identify potential and motivation before being admitted to a year long foundation programme designed to prepare them for the rigour of Higher Education,” they said.

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Jim Dickinson first came across the Global Banking School in a shopping centre in Walthamstow, when he chanced upon a pull-up banner with the words: “Claim your £15,000 funding today for higher education”. It seemed like a pretty good offer: the possibility of a degree in “many fields”, “no age limit for study” and “free admission and funding help”.

At the bottom of the banner was a link to the website of Harley Education, which, despite the name, is actually a marketing company. Their website advertises eight courses, including one in "Budiness [sic] and Tourism management”. 

Intrigued, Dickinson filled in a quick form on the website to check his eligibility for the course — good news, he was eligible. Then, nothing happened, until a few months later when a stranger popped up on WhatsApp inviting him to an interview at the Global Banking School. It turned out the courses Harley was advertising were actually the courses at GBS, which has 10 campuses around the UK, including in Manchester.

He was sent an admissions form, and, more helpfully still, the contact informed him exactly what questions he’d be asked ahead of time, with a quick guide as to how he ought to answer the questions. For example, if the interviewer was to ask if he’d looked at the contents of his prospective course, he was to answer: “Yes, I have gone through all course contents”.

For an institution with a name as august as the Global Banking School, the admissions process seemed pretty lax. Not that Dickinson was shocked, given that he isn’t really a budding student with a keen interest in ‘Budiness and Tourism Management’, but rather a journalist for Wonkhe, an online news site which has done considerable research on franchising in higher education. The Global Banking School is one of the key players. 

Here’s how it works: an established university “franchises” out courses in its name to colleges like GBS. (GBS works with six partners, including Bath Spa and Oxford Brookes). In practice, these pillars of learning often do little beyond signing off the curriculum, but the deal works out well for them: in exchange for bestowing their institutional credibility, they pocket 25% of the student fees. GBS takes about 50%, and the remaining quarter goes to companies like Harley Education, who sign the students up in the first place.

This arrangement works well for everyone involved. The university gets extra revenue for not doing a great deal, and can access fees from students who would never qualify to study directly with them. And for GBS, it’s been a serious financial boon. 

For much of its life, GBS was a relatively small company, only becoming large enough to even have to report employee numbers in 2016. But it has since exploded in size. Between February 2019 and February 2024 revenue grew from £4 million to £233 million, an increase of over 5,000%. Last year it made £47m in net profit and paid out £23m in dividends to its owners, including its ex-banker founder, Dr Vishwajeet Rana, who now lives in the UAE. Having come from nowhere, it is now one of largest providers of undergraduate education in the country, with over 35,000 students. GBS now even has a college in Dubai, where “passionate environmentalist” Stanley Johnson (that’s Boris Johnson’s dad) sits on its advisory board.

But what of the students? This is the rub, and the reason franchised providers have become more and more controversial.