A privately-run college which insisted it was not a bogus operation is facing action from Scotland�s exam body after falsely advertising courses in its online prospectus.

A privately-run college which insisted it was not a bogus operation is facing action from Scotland's exam body after falsely advertising courses in its online prospectus.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is to write to Middlesex College in Glasgow asking it to remove references to HND and HNC qualifications in business and information technology from its website.

Although the college, in the city's Fox Street, has applied to the SQA for accreditation to run these courses, it has not received permission to do so.

A spokesman for the SQA said: "Middlesex College is not a registered SQA centre and therefore use of our identity is at best premature given that they have opened negotiations with us. We will be contacting them about the inappropriate use of our identity."

Last night, a spokesman for the college accepted the inclusion of the SQA courses was a mistake and promised to remove the references.

"We are not trying to mislead anyone.

"We will make sure it is removed. It may be that this is a proof copy of the prospectus and not the final copy or it could be an old one," he said.

In September, The Herald visited Middlesex College, whose headquarters are in London, as part of our investigation into the burgeoning network of privately-run colleges in Scotland.

Following the visit, Yemi Adegoke, the college's London-based academic dean, contacted us to raise concerns that it was unfair to "lump" Middlesex in with other "cowboy" colleges.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Association of Scotland's Colleges (ASC) is to pass on a dossier of The Herald's investigations to all Scottish MPs urging them to take action.

The ASC has already written to Des Browne, Secretary of State for Scotland, calling for the 1985 Business Names Act to be changed to include protection of the term "college".

The act currently protects the names "university", "polytechnic", "institute" and "special school" and only those who have approval from the Secretary of State can use such terms. However, "college" is not protected.

"We will now be writing to all Scottish MPs seeking their support for protection of the word "college" and including a dossier of The Herald's articles," said an ASC spokesman.

This summer, an investigation by The Herald revealed a network of private colleges across the UK with questionable credentials charging overseas students thousands of pounds to study courses which appeared not to exist.

Many were using logos of recognised educational and industry bodies or claiming partnerships with legitimate universities without permission.

Senior politicians in Scotland were urged to intervene after it emerged that at least four colleges offering business and language qualifications were being run from Glasgow.

The fear is that some of these colleges are little more than visa shops which provide an easy route into the country or a means of staying here.

There are also concerns that the unregulated nature of private colleges allows unscrupulous organisations to charge thousands of pounds for courses which are not externally accredited and have no real value to employees.