The sudden collapse of Kane's English

On June 5438+February 65438+May 2009, Kane English Headquarters on the first floor of Building 17, Jianke University Building, No.75 Wanping South Road, Xujiahui, Shanghai, was empty, leaving only surprised students and foreign teachers. This training institution, which claims to have 1.7 million graduates and five stores in Shanghai, seems to have stopped operating overnight. Only in Pudong Yaohan Branch and People's Square Branch can reporters find staff who claim to know nothing. The management of the organization seems to have vanished. BrianMcCloskey, the founder, fled to Ireland, and his mobile phone in China has been turned off.

According to informed sources, the financial situation of Kane English has gone from bad to worse since July this year. Up to now, teachers' salaries, property fees and rents have been owed nearly one million yuan, and many faculty members have left their posts one after another within six months. On the day of suspension, Kane English was still enrolling students, and the tuition fee was 7,000 yuan per person. At present, Brain McCloskey, the founder of Kane English, is still missing, and the students said that they would contact the people who suffered losses in many ways and defend their rights through legal means.

At 3: 40 p.m. on June 5438+05, there was no lively scene of English conversation between foreign teachers and China students in the empty classroom of Kane's English headquarters at Jianke Building 17, No.75 Wanping South Road, Xuhui District. Some foreign teachers and students are sad, some are at a loss, and more are helpless.

"Now I have only one dollar. I never thought there would be such an encounter. " Ms. Cireena, a foreign teacher, said with tears: "I haven't slept well since last night." Although the school had financial difficulties and owed teachers' salaries before, she never thought that the boss would treat teachers and students like this.

School management, from bosses to administrators, all evaporated, leaving only students and debtors. For a time, many creditors, such as property owners, landlords and advertising companies, came to the door one after another, but they could not find the parties, so they had to wait for news in the classroom, and some students had already called the police at the first time. After the Xuhui police received the report, two policemen investigated the situation at the scene and arranged for the victim to register. It is understood that students pay according to different courses, and the tuition fee is generally around 7,000 yuan. Kane English still owes nearly 250 thousand property fees, and the rent, teacher's salary and other funds are still being counted.

"The child we brought only paid 1 10,000 yesterday, and the name was not written. Today, the school is gone. " A gentleman who asked not to be named was worried that he might encounter twists and turns in repaying his tuition fees in the future. According to several students, the school was still collecting money the day before the class was closed. Inexplicably, as an old foreign language training school with a history of 10 years and a maximum of 5,000 students, it suddenly forgot its reputation and integrity and evaded its debts by escaping.

"Maybe there is really no money." When interviewed by the media, foreign teacher Mr. Griffin said helplessly. Although the school has been in arrears with teachers' salaries for nearly two months before, the school has repeatedly said that there are ways to give everyone the remuneration they deserve, but according to the current situation, it is very hanging.

At the scene, Mr. Lu of Johnson & Johnson Advertising Company said that since July this year, Kane English has been unable to pay advertising fees in time, and Johnson & Johnson has stopped advertising services and has been urging money. So far, Kane still has more than 4000 yuan outstanding. "In the past six months, their financial personnel, whom I have dealt with, have changed four times." The last one, a native of Taiwan Province Province, also informed Teacher Lu to resign at the end of 165438+ 10. "The tuition fee of nearly 10,000 yuan is not a small sum for everyone. We hope that the Education Commission and relevant departments can properly solve it. " Miss Shen, a student, distributed the publicity logo of QQ group to every student at the scene yesterday, calling on everyone to defend their rights through legal means.

Brain McCloskey, the founder of Kane English, is an Irish old man who has lived in China for many years. 1996 founded Kane English and became one of the first Chinese-foreign cooperative education institutions in Shanghai authorized by the Ministry of Education. At present, there are 5 schools and more than 70 foreign teachers.

Student Anders recalled that Brian was interviewed when he first came to class. He was deeply impressed by the old man's kind attitude and fluent Chinese. "The brain is a good uncle. I heard that he has lived in China for 10 years and is a China hand. " However, this respected uncle disappeared after the incident, which also made many students feel, "Is Kane really so down and out, with a debt of up to 3 million!"

The students calculated an account: "Property 250,000+students+teachers. Operating a company of this size does not require much capital, and there is no such investment. It can only be said that there were internal problems a few years ago, and even the capital reserve was impossible. "

"Thanks to the economic crisis, more people have gone abroad to develop, and the business of foreign language training has been extremely hot in the past two years." Miss Yao has worked in a foreign language training institution for many years. In her eyes, foreign language training institutions belong to the industry of "low entry threshold, fast return, but not profiteering". When Kane's English crashed to the ground, Miss Yao thought that the reason for its failure was "insufficient utilitarianism". "Now in China, English training without textual research will not be popular, and Kane English, which attaches importance to spoken English, was also popular a few years ago." At the same time, there are many educational institutions in the market. It is reported that as low as 6,543,800 yuan, an education and training institution can set up a stage for singing opera. From 1996 to 200 1, Kane English has a golden age, and no other oral school can compete directly with Kane. However, since 2005, various foreign language training schools have been established. According to the 2008 Shanghai Yearbook, there are currently 208 Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run schools in Shanghai. Without participating in mergers and acquisitions and looking for new investments, Kane English, which is developing slowly, is gradually marginalized.

Moreover, as early as June 5438+February 2008, the cooperation between Kane English and Shanghai Construction Engineering (14.02, 0.00, 0.00%) Group Cadre School was terminated, so Kane did not actually have the qualification to continue running schools, but in 2009 Kane English continued to recruit students and introduced new courses.

The sudden collapse of Kane and Lingerfeng English has also caused some people to give up their plans to enroll in English recently. Yang, a teacher of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, believes that this is worthy of reflection by relevant functional departments. The management of education and training institutions cannot be completed by the education department alone. Industry and commerce, taxation and other departments have regulatory responsibilities. In case of abnormal situation, early warning should be given in time to prevent the strange phenomenon of "stopping qualification and still enrolling students".

At present, a working group composed of the Municipal Education Commission and the cadre schools of the Construction Engineering Group is helping students to contact the schools that have resumed classes. EF Education and Wall Street English may accept some students. Students are expected to resume classes within 60 days.

Insiders: "third party" can pay first-

In view of the closure of training institutions, a training and education intermediary website in Shanghai (Yuan Bo Education Network) has introduced the measure of "paying in advance". Mr. Shen, the marketing director of the website, said that when students enrolled through the website participated in similar education and training courses, they suffered innocent losses due to training institutions and other reasons. Moreover, they can pay by the remote education website first, and then communicate with educational institutions by the website. Mr. Shen revealed that the website has set up a special fund for this kind of advance payment.

In view of the "third party" mechanism in tuition payment in the training market. Experts pointed out that since there are risks in the training industry, the introduction of a third-party insurance mechanism, with insurance companies or related guarantee institutions responsible for claims settlement, can really reduce the risks of consumers. However, since the closure of training institutions now involves millions of tuition fees, it is still debatable whether the "third party" has sufficient qualifications and whether the compensation deposit is sufficient.

Unable to pay the rent, Mr. Gomez temporarily rented a youth hostel, hoping to find a job as soon as possible. "What can I say? I am a unlucky person. " Gomez with a wry smile. "However, I still want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, including those high-level runners."