I found this the other day. It is of interest since I spent 9 months in Mauritius. For a little island in the middle of nowhere, and with a population just over 1MM, the political intrigue there is amazing. I guess it is somewhat like the old saw about academia: The fight/arguments are so brutal because the stakes are so small.
The aborted 1983 mission illustrates that India’s ambitions and interests extend beyond the subcontinent.
Has this thing called The Road to Popehat. I assume he’s using something like google analytics to see what keywords led people to the Popehat blog. It is an often hilarious post. It is done several times a year.
I go into my analytics account every once in a while to see if there is anything funny or interesting in terms of keywords or search terms that bring people to my blog. This week there was one of interest: money owed to me in mauritius.
All I have to say to that is: good luck, bud. If you manage to collect your money, tell me how you did so, in order that I might try.
Also people have searched for Elizabeth Taylor in white bra. More than once. In case you are curious why people would search for such a thing, take a look at this.
I have a Google alert set up on my former employer. I have it set up mostly out of curiosity over what is going on in Mauritius with ISITECH Business School (where I was employed), now know as Oceana International Business School.
I was notified of this article just a few hours ago: Hindustan Times: Duped Students Threatened, Bullied in Mauritius. And this one: Indian students in refund stand-off with Mauritius college.
From the second article:
Oceana IBS Mauritius has an office in Hyderabad.
Manu Dass, an institute representative who spoke to The Hindu, refuted the allegations by the students. He claimed that when MQA permission for the ‘Level 2 Culinary Arts’ course was not obtained, the college had offered ‘Level 4 Travel and Tourism’ along with ‘Level 2 Food Production’ and this was accepted by the students, including Wahid. He was, however, evasive when asked if the other students would get refunds.
I know Manu. I don’t find it hard to believe that others considered him evasive. I believe that sort of behavior is ingrained completely in his personality.
Also from the second article:
“The college has cheated us without offering the courses promised in the offer letters. We were forced to study a course thrust upon us and work without any pay in the name of internship,” alleged Antosheen Raju Philip, who hails from Kerala. He is one of the 19 students still stuck in Mauritius,
I feel for Mr. Philip’s plight, the school owes me money too.
I’ve never posted about the school I worked for in the past as I always thought I might actually get paid the balance owed. I’ve always held out hope that things would turn around there, for both the students and my former coworkers. I don’t think this is going to happen at this point in time.
I really wanted things to work out in Mauritius. I went there with the notion that I was going to build a school that was going to be awesome. It is a shame the operation was so poorly capitalized. It is a shame the ownership appears to have an ethical problem too.