Finance minister Greg Byrne said there were problems with the quality of the programs at Lansbridge University, which had its university designation taken away Friday. (CBC)

The president of an online university based in Fredericton says he is upset that the province has revoked its licence to offer degrees and that the notice was posted online before he had a chance to inform anybody.

The province announced Friday that Lansbridge University, an online business school, would no longer be designated as a university because reviews by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission and independent inspectors showed the school to be "significantly substandard."

Company president Ernie Smith disputes that, and doesn't like that the decision was placed on the government's web site at the same time that a message was being sent to the company by courier.

"I found that appalling, a very, very bad way to do it because it gave us no chance to talk to our students, our staff, or our faculty," he said.

The school enrols around 200 students, 11 from New Brunswick.

Smith says he believed the university had made improvements requested by the goverment, including adding two outside representatives to its board of directors.

Courses 'above average,' school says

Smith, who joined the school this year, said the quality of the teaching was never raised.

"Our courses, according to our students and our professors, were above average, and we have never had a complaint," he said.

Finance Minister Greg Byrne said that's not what the reviewers found.

"These were issues concerning the qualities of the programs," he said.

The government is appointing two administrators to help the students transfer courses and seek tuition rebates.

Smith said anybody who just signed on will have their tution returned.

When the program started in New Brunswick in 2001, it was the first such school in the province.

The university, which had previously been listed on the New Brunswick government web site as a provincial success story, was one of four online universities in the province.

The other three have gone through independent reviews and passed, the government said.