Caltech to evaluate relationship with Simplilearn after lawsuit, New York Times expose

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
October 3, 2024

MEDIA CONTACT
press@defendstudents.org | (646) 599-2235

Caltech to evaluate relationship with Simplilearn after lawsuit, New York Times expose

After a New York Times story shed light on Caltech’s outsourcing of Center for Technology Management Education (CMTE) courses to online education provider Simplilearn, Caltech’s President and Provost released a statement saying Caltech was “evaluating [their] CMTE course offerings and the relationship with Simplilearn.”

This comes after Student Defense and Altshuler Berzon LLP filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of former students who allege Caltech and Simplilearn violated consumer-protection laws. The complaint alleges that Caltech and Simplilearn — as well as Fullstack, another for-profit online program provider acquired by Simplilearn in November 2022 — have misrepresented to prospective students that the cybersecurity bootcamp is a Caltech program even though the course is outsourced to Simplilearn and before that Fullstack.

“When prestigious institutions like Caltech slap their name on third-party programs they aren’t teaching it hurts their reputations, but students suffer the real consequences,” said Student Defense President Aaron Ament. “We need oversight to stop these deceptive marketing schemes and restore accountability to higher education.”