A group of former George Brown College students has won a landmark $2.75 million in damages from the college for misleading advertising about a course that failed to deliver the career credentials it advertised. The settlement was part of a class-action suit by 108 former students of the International Business Program who complained the course did not deliver three industry qualifications that students felt had been promised in the course description. However the college had no partnerships with the industry groups that administer those designations, which had been the attraction for many students, two-thirds of whom had come from around the world. The credentials usually take two years to earn and can lead to lucrative jobs. In releasing the settlement statement this week — eight years after the lawsuit was launched — Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba called the compensation “generous and fair.”Belobaba found the college guilty in 2012 of “negligent misrepresentation” and a breach of the Consumer Protection Act for suggesting the eight-month program would qualify students for three special industry designations — international trade, custom services and international freight forwarding.

Source: thestar June 02, 2016 22:42 UTC