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Caltech said Monday that the class lawsuit claimed the company and ended its relationship with the e-learning company after the university misrepresented the cybersecurity boot camp and misinterpreted students by suggesting that the course had a close relationship with the Pasadena campus and instructors.
In an email to the Caltech community, President Thomas F. Rosenbaum and Provost David A. Tyrrell said the university will suspend relations with Simplilearn after the current course ends in November.
They also said that Caltech will provide dozens of courses for professionals and “establish a faculty oversight committee for other learning programs at the Centre of Technology and Management Education, which will provide dozens of courses to guide and inform future initiatives and provide advice on strategies, curriculum and educational programming.”
Caltech and Simplilearn “did not accept or admit any lawsuits or allegations of violation of the law as part of the court settlement. Still, the move by one of the nation’s most well-known universities was a significant victory for students and supporters who filed complaints nationwide about universities that lend names to online courses that have little connection to campus faculty or typical university supervision.
Online university programs have grown by hundreds since 2011, when the education sector released guidelines that enable revenue sharing between universities and third-party course providers, encouraging rebound and scrutiny.
Last year, California auditors cited UC, saying “online program management companies are limited,” but there should be a “increase in surveillance” for those. Two states, Ohio and Minnesota, have passed laws regulating “online program managers” that partner with universities.
New America, a liberal think tank that tracked the growth of such courses, wrote in a recent report that the quality of online program managers “can be questionable. Students are suing low-quality instruction and programs that do not fulfill the promises of recruiters.”
Students often get certificates issued by course providers and “graduate deeply from debt just to find that their qualifications have little or no weight in the job market, or that they lack the skills needed for the careers they choose,” says a new American analysis released last month.
Caltech Cybersecurity Bootcamp, which registered around 500 people in eight classes each year, became the center of the lawsuit in 2023 after students who signed up three years ago said they used their name recognition to sell classes taught by people who are unrelated or roughly affiliated with the Caltech brand.
Elva Lopez, a former student named Plaintiff, filed a lawsuit in San Francisco state court before it was approved as a class action legal process. She argued that the university and Simplilearn violated the consumer protection law and that the programs she enrolled in are part of California’s “name only.” She said one instructor took $14,000 on a loan for a class, someone who includes qualifications, including graduation from the same program.
As part of the settlement they signed last week and released by the court on Monday, Caltech and Simplerian agreed to hire or not to use a bootcamp instructor who said “the only qualifications to teach cybersecurity are graduating from Cybersecurity Bootcamp.”
They also stated that they “do not represent that they have access to Caltech services that bootcamp students cannot access,” and that “we will need to create a directory page listing all current bootcamp instructors and their partnerships, and use Simplearn’s email address for Simplearn’s recruiters.
The settlement, which still requires judicial approval, said Simplilearn will refund tuition fees to 263 people who paid a total of $2.4 million. In addition to legal costs, the settlement said Simplilearn would pay $340,000 and $60,000 to distribute Caltech $60,000 to class members.
A SimpliLearn spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
Some of the deal has had little practical effect after Caltech’s announcement on Monday that the partnership will soon end, but the lawyers representing the plaintiffs said it was a “great playbook” for other schools with similar programs.
“This settlement provides meaningful relief to Elva Lopez and other Caltech Bootcamp participants, achieving the goal of accountability and transparency for students who participate in the Caltech Cybersecurity Bootcamp or future will.” “The changes agreed by Caltech and Simplilearn are the perfect playbook for other schools offering these types of programs.”
Caltech, although distanced from Simplilearn, said it remains proud of other professional and executive-level programs under the Center for Technology and Management Education.
Each year, the Centre “manages over 40 different extended education programs available as open admission courses for individuals and customized certification programs developed in collaboration with corporate partners,” wrote customized certification programs, including Aramco, Boeing, John Deere, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Toshiba and Tirrell, on Monday.
The Centre “has a strong reputation for providing accreditation programs and training that strengthens professional skill sets and prepares the workforce to meet the increasingly complex technical requirements of modern industries,” they said.
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