A group of graduates has won a class-action suit against George Brown College for a course description that promised three credentials it was not qualified to deliver.

Of 118 students represented in the case, two-thirds came from other countries and paid $11,000 in tuition each for the eight-month International Business Program, which delivered none of the three added industry qualifications — international trade, custom services and international freight forwarding — promised in the course calendar.

It was these specialized industry designations that attracted students in the first place when the program launched in 2007, noted Justice Edward Belobaba, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. None of the students wanted another college certificate, but they were excited by the idea of a fast track to three credentials that usually take two years of work and study — resulting in starting salaries said to be as high as $60,000.

But just before final exams, students discovered the college had no deals with the industry associations that are required to be partners for such training, so no designations would be earned.

“The students were, to say the least, disappointed. Some were devastated,” reported Belobaba, who found the college guilty of “negligent misrepresentation” and a breach of the Consumer Protection Act.

“George Brown College is highly regarded, and deservedly so. But on this one occasion they were careless and made a mistake,” Belobaba found, “and they should be held accountable.”

He has yet to hear arguments about what monetary damages the college might owe students for time and money spent on qualifications it didn’t deliver. Katrina Ramdath, 30, one of the three plaintiffs named in the lawsuit handled by Kim Orr Barristers, quit a full-time finance career with a bank to pursue the credentials for international business and trade.

“All of our hearts stopped when we learned we wouldn’t be getting those designations. Pretty well all of us had quit our jobs to take this full-time program,” recalled Ramdath. She was in the second of the first three classes in the course, back in 2007 and 2008, that were included in the class action. As a Canadian student, she paid $3,000.

“It’s a bittersweet situation, because it took us so long to get justice,” Ramdath said of the ruling. “How can a Canadian institution advertise something and then let us down? It makes me so angry.”

The college changed the online description of the course after students complained, even though it would not admit it had been misleading. Rather, the college said it had only meant to suggest students could begin preparing for those designations with this course.

College spokesperson Brian Stock said the college can’t comment on a case still before the court, but that “George Brown works very hard to provide information that helps students choose the right path.”

Ashish Singh, 32, was a trader in commodities futures in India earning about $6,500 a year when he was attracted by the George Brown program. The MBA graduate borrowed money from his father to cover the tuition and airfare.

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“I came with a dream of a good job, because those designations are accepted worldwide, but I had to start over again.”

He has since become a real estate appraiser in Toronto, “but I don’t know when I’ll be able to repay my father.”