TBI’s Financial Woes: Old-Timers Head for the Exit Door

In our most recent post on this blog, we revealed how far TBI has now fallen in the eyes of its employees. These unfortunates have been forced into accepting salary by installment lately, because this low-class language school has hit such financial woes that they are now paying salaries two or even three times a…

TBI: Where Teachers “Almost” Have Qualifications!

One of  the many problems with TBI is that it is a bubble of similarly deluded individuals. It always was. It is a place where people tell themselves that their extraordinarily low standards are actually the benchmark for the whole industry! Their delusions of grandeur are nowhere more in evidence than when it comes to…

TBI’s “Teen Students”: For Sale on Shutterstock.Com

We recently visited the TBI website to look at the latest version. We did not expect to be impressed but the rubbish they are now offering was gob-smackingly bad even by their own rock bottom standards. Look at it yourself and you will see pathetic testimonials from teachers with entry-level qualifications (you can lead academic…

Meet the New TBI Director: Windiaprana Ramelan

Over the past few months, we have argued that with the ousting of TBI’s wretched old Director, the hapless and useless Ibu Mariam Kartikatrensi, the victory of her main rival, Ibu Nng Anhar, was complete. For many years, the shady yayasan (charity) USG had been the domain of Ibu Ning, while Mariam had thrown her…

TBI’s Amazing Shrinking Business! (Part 3 of 3)

With TBI Sudirman closed and TBI Kuningan ‘downsized’ to a smaller and less prestigious address, it seemed time to talk about the elephant in the room: TBI’s shrinking business and the sclerotic management team behind it. In this series we have argued that TBI has now ‘progressed’ from the early to later stages of business…

TBI: The Sick Man of Indonesian TEFL (Part 2 of 3)

This blog has always been based on a simple proposition: TBI (The British Institute) is a fraudulent, delusional and rapidly declining company which is the sick man of the Indonesian TEFL industry. Over the past several years we have attempted to document in its decline by compiling and cross-checking all the information we have accrued…

TBI Kuningan Is Moving…Closer To Oblivion (Part 1 of 3)

At this blog, we have always tried to moderate and conservative in our claims. We have never stated that TBI will go bust on such and such a date; we do not want to indulge in speculation, and there’s no way that anyone outside Head Office can know exactly how bad the finances are. However,…

Hey TBI E-Buddies! Welcome To Kiddies’ Corner!

TBI (The British Insitute), an ailing language chain in Indonesia, has been reeling from the news that its former Head Office at TBI Sudirman (The Sequis Centre) has been closed due to “cash flow” problems. While they will publicly deny they are have serious financial difficulties, no intelligent person will doubt that a company which…

TBI Bekasi’s New Owners

A few months ago we were contacted at this blog by the ‘new’ owners of TBI Bekasi (Ruko Sun City) who asked us to contact them about our allegations of fraud, corruption and teacher abuse. They provided us with an email account. We tried to contact them but the email address was no longer in…

TBI’s Rent-Seekers and the Real Reason for Mariam’s Ouster (Part 4 of 4)

In this final part of this four part series of posts on TBI’s organizational structure- one which we have shown has been plagued by rent-seeking practices which have sapped the energy and competitiveness of the company from the start- we look at the real reasons for Mariam’s ouster in late 2015. Why was the TBI…