Allowing an institution specialising in complementary medicine to rebrand as Health Sciences University opens the doors of English higher education to “pseudoscience” and could fool students into believing that “magic medicine” is backed by solid evidence, critics have warned.
Following approval by the Office for Students, AECC University College – formerly the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic – took on the new name at the same time that it merged with the University College of Osteopathy (UCO). Chiropractic and osteopathy are both forms of alternative medicine.
Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter, warned that the new name hid the background of the institution.
“The institution is a school of chiropractic, a form of treatment that is as far from science as bungee jumping and has never convincingly demonstrated to generate more good than harm,” he said.
“I wonder what might be next – a ‘Health Science University for Pole Dancing’ perhaps?”
Professor Ernst said the decision could also mislead patients who might assume that, with the conferral of a university title, chiropractic must be backed by strong evidence for both efficacy and safety.
“Patients who are misled in this way are in danger of wasting their money, of delaying their recovery or of suffering significant harm,” he warned.
David Colquhoun, emeritus professor of pharmacology at UCL, said the OfS “evidently has very little understanding of medicine or the need for good evidence”.
“There can be little doubt that the University of Health Sciences will turn out to be the University of Health Advice for which There is Little Evidence, the University of Health Baloney or…the University of Bogus Health,” he said.
“Having spent a lot of effort to stop universities giving degrees in magic medicine, it’s heartbreaking to see its resurgence.”
The OfS received almost 100 responses to a consultation on the proposed name and said it agreed with some respondents who feared that the name could be “potentially misleading”, including some who said it “implies a scope of offering that does not match the reality of the provider’s offering”.
However, the regulator approved the application on the basis that the institution would still be bound by consumer protection law and would have to provide information about “what is meant by the term ‘health sciences’”.
Professor Colquhoun warned that this was “mind-bogglingly naive”.
“Purveyors of alternative medicine have never felt bound by consumer protection law and are hardly likely to do so in their promotional material,” he said.
Health Sciences University describes itself as offering about 30 accredited courses and apprenticeships, plus continuing professional development and training. Following the UCO merger, it plans to launch a “health business school” and a range of health professions apprenticeships.
Lesley Haig, the institution’s vice-chancellor, said the new name reflected the organisation’s “broadened scope, depth and level of ambition”.
“We have a clear focus and have decided to adopt a new name and a new identity which reflects our current status and future ambitions,” she added.
“We chose this new name because we didn’t want anyone to be in any doubt about who we are and what we stand for. We want to be the leading specialist health sciences university in the UK.”
