Chinese students claim they were persuaded to pay more than £10,000 by Oxford's troubled Plater College for degree courses which did not exist.

Wei Wei

According to documents seen by the Oxford Mail, teenagers were promised places on degree courses by former principal Robert Beckinsale after he visited Beijing to recruit students.

Mr Beckinsale, who has denied misleading students, left the residential Catholic college, in Pullens Lane, Headington, in January, shortly before it announced it would be closing down in July after 80 years, following a damning inspection report. Prime Minister's wife Cherie Blair served as honorary president of the Plater College Appeal last year.

Oxfordshire County Council trading standards officers have now launched an investigation into the claims.

In a letter from Mr Beckinsale, one student, Wei Wei, was offered a place on an LLB law degree course when she was just 16 years old -- three years too young to attend the mature further education college.

Another student, Liu Chen, was told she had been accepted on an Undergraduate Bridging Programme leading to a "Bachelor's Degree in Culture and Media Studies".

The college does not run degree courses, but offers Certificate in Higher Education courses, which give mature students without formal qualifications a route into university.

Miss Wei, now 18, paid £6,900 in tuition fees and £3,960 for accommodation, but on arrival in January last year, discovered she would not be doing the law course, but an 18-week International Foundation Course and English language course instead.

She later discovered that both qualifications were useless in her bid to get into university and having missed her chance to study at a Chinese university, has spent a further £23,000 to complete her A-Levels at Oxford Tutorial College.

She also had to retake the language qualification because her certificate, required for overseas students applying to UK universities, was only valid for one year.

Miss Wei says she has suffered depression as a result of her experiences and is now fighting for compensation from the college before it closes.

She said: "I wasted my money and my time. The qualification I have is basically useless and I have missed my chance to go to a Chinese university.

"I have cried every night for hours about this. The principal knew I was only 16. When I had the interview with him in China, the first question he asked me was my name and my age. They told me when I finished there, I could get into university. They told me I could get into Oxford University.

"Nothing was what they told me it would be in China. My father came with me to Oxford and when he saw the room, he almost took me straight back to China. But we had already paid and we couldn't ask for the money back.

"The course was rubbish, the accommodation was rubbish and the food was rubbish. I'm glad it's closing down."

The trading standards department is investigating the circumstances of Miss Wei's enrolment and said it would make a statement after completing inquiries.

Mr Beckinsale, who was appointed college principal in 2002, was not available for interview, but in a letter responding to Miss Wei's complaints, seen by the Oxford Mail, he "strenuously denied" any misrepresentation.

Plater College refused to comment, but the Catholic Education Service conformed that the college had received complaints from six Chinese students.

A spokesman said: "We are aware that claims have been made, so far unsolicited, by a number of Chinese students, including Miss Wei Wei. The matter is currently in the hands of the college solicitors."

The local Learning and Skills Council, which allocates public funding to the college, said it was not aware the college was operating any law degrees or media courses and the Law Society said it did not recognise any law degrees from Plater College.

Oxfordshire county councillor Mick McAndrews, a former student and staff member of Plater, is leading a legal battle to save the college from closure. He said: "For the college to charge a 16-year-old girl £10,000 for something it shouldn't offer is diabolical."