It’s a distinctive pink building dating back to 1895, but its educational history in recent years is definitely below grade.
Now the former home of the International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine at 769 Pandora Ave. has been sold to the City of Victoria after owner and acupuncturist Dr. Wally Mui and his wife, Jenny Wong-Mui, failed to pay $55,000 in accumulating property taxes and fees last fall.
But above the building’s awning, a sign for the college remains, although Mui was directed by a provincial regulator to remove all advertising in 2009.
The college lost its registration in light of a scathing report that cited inadequate facilities, a lack of learning resources and equipment, insurance and even a shortage of chairs, an absence of records for students and instructors and the financial uncertainty of the business, according to the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of B.C.
“[I]t is not in the public interest to allow the institution to operate,” wrote Jim Wright, former registrar of the Crown corporation responsible for regulating the province’s private colleges.
The building’s awning now reads TCM Acupuncture Herbal Centre and Mui operates it as a clinic only. The Private Career Training Institutions Agency is aware of the sign still being there, said registrar Karin Kirkpatrick. The City of Victoria, which now owns the building, has been notified, she said. “There was not much more we could do.”
The city purchased the building for $501,000 at the 2012 tax sale. But the Muis are expected to pay their back taxes and reclaim ownership by September, said city spokeswoman Katie Josephson.
When it operated, the college on Pandora was the cause of “all kinds of controversies,” said Todd Howard, president of Pacific Rim College in Market Square, which has about 120 students studying in its traditional Chinese medicine programs. The school took in as many as 20 students after the International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine was forced to close.
Nineteen students had claims for funds to continue their education after the school closed, said Kirkpatrick. Her agency paid out $133,125 to students or their new schools.
One student from China who had paid four years of tuition in advance to Mui chose to stay at his clinic working rather than continuing her studies elsewhere. “She did not make a claim against the fund,” Kirkpatrick said.
Mui, who teaches at Oshio College of Acupuncture and Herbology in Victoria and is billed on its website as chief instructor of acupuncture, said he wasn’t “interested in talking about anything.”
“He is a good teacher,” said Oshio principal Dr. Ganglin Yin.
Oshio has operated since 1999, and has two teaching sites, one at 531 Yates St. for lectures and a clinic at McKenzie and Shelbourne streets. About 25 students pay roughly $8,000 per year for three-, four- and five-year diplomas, Yin said.
Oshio had its registration suspended from Nov. 25, 2011, to Feb. 17, 2012, because “basic education standards [were] not met,” according to the Private Career Training Institutions Agency website, something Kirkpatrick said was a minor administrative issue.
Despite the circumstances under which Mui ended ownership of the International school, he continues to be a registrant of B.C.’s College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists.
The college would investigate only if there was a complaint relating to professional misconduct with patients. “If the complaint was not practice related, but was student related, then the student would most likely be referred to the PCTIA … the body that is mandated to protect the rights of the student,” said registrar Dr. Mary Watterson.
