Minister rejects claim that immigration curbs will damage higher education

guardian.co.uk |by Hélène Mulholland

• Hélène Mulholland, political reporter
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 May 2012 05.44 EDT

Britain attracts around one in 10 foreign undergraduates and postgraduates who study outside their home country. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

The government has rejected claims that the crackdown on immigration risks deterring legitimate foreign students and losing the British economy billions of pounds a year.

A letter to the prime minister, David Cameron, signed by 68 university chancellors, governors and presidents, urges the government to take foreign students out of net immigration counts amid fears that toughening up the rules on student visas may drive applicants towards institutions in other countries.

They urge ministers to class foreign students as temporary rather than permanent migrants.

Signatories to the letter include the former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell, who is chancellor of St Andrews University, as well as the broadcaster Lord Bragg, chancellor of the University of Leeds. They also include former Conservative minister Virginia Bottomley, chancellor of the University of Hull, and Patrick Stewart, chancellor of the University of Huddersfield.

The letter – circulated by Universities UK (UUK) –says Britain attracts around one in 10 foreign undergraduates and postgraduates who study outside their home country, according to the Daily Telegraph.

This generates around £8bn a year for the UK in tuition fees and other investment, it is claimed, with the total expected to more than double by 2025.

But UUK told the Telegraph that many risked being pushed towards other countries such as the US, Australia, Canada and Germany.

The immigration minister, Damian Green, said the Office for National Statistics was responsible for producing net migration figures, which were based on an internationally agreed definition of a migrant – someone entering the country for more than a year.

Green insisted the policy did not stop genuine students coming to the UK but said the government was “determined to prevent the abuse of student visas as part of our plans to get net migration down to the tens of thousands”.

“Public confidence in statistics will not be enhanced by revising the way the net migration numbers are presented by removing students,” he said.

Home Office research conducted in 2010 showed 20% of students who came in 2004 remained in the UK five years later.

Green said: “When we announced our full raft of changes to the student visa route, Universities UK said that the proposals ‘will allow British universities to remain at the forefront of international student recruitment’.

“Students coming to the UK for over a year are not visitors– numbers affect communities, public services and infrastructure.”

The letter states: “In this Olympic year, when our universities will be hosting athletics teams and media from across the globe, we urge you to send a clear message that genuine international students are also welcome in, and valued by, the United Kingdom.”

Home Office ministers have introduced a wide range of curbs on the 400,000 overseas students who come to Britain each year to study as part of their drive to reduce annual net migration from its current level of 240,000 a year to below 100,000 by the time of the 2015 general election.

The changes to the student visa system place a limit on the number of years non-European Union students can spend studying and restrict the number of hours of paid work they can do during and after their degrees.

In addition, they are no longer allowed to bring their spouses or children with them unless they are enrolled on a postgraduate course that lasts more than a year.

They claim some universities have already seen the number of applications from India drop by a third this year.

Nicola Dandridge, the UUK chief executive, told the Telegraph the “cumulative effect of all these changes is to present a picture of the UK as not welcoming international students”.

“As competitor countries start to introduce visa changes to attract more international students and academics, we have real concerns about the situation in the long term,” she said.

“Although the UK continues to have one of the strongest higher education systems in the world, in recent years, we have already started losing market share in the face of growing competition globally.

“The reality is that countries such as the US and Australia are taking active steps to encourage international students and are communicating a very different message … It is clear that international students at universities should not be treated as permanent migrants, since the vast majority of them leave the UK at the end of their studies.”

A report by the Institute of Public Policy Research publishedearlier this month said the refusal to exclude international students from the government’s drive to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands was damaging British education and putting at risk £4bn to £6bn a year in benefits to the UK economy.

Six Scottish Colleges Face Ban On Recruiting Foreign Students

BBC |March 15, 2012

Six Scottish colleges are facing a ban on the recruitment of foreign students after failing immigration rules.

The colleges in question are seeking urgent talks with the Home Office after they were stripped of their trusted sponsor status.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) said applications from the colleges did not meet the current criteria.

The institutions involved include Anniesland, Stow and Cardonald in Glasgow, along with Motherwell College.

The UKBA is cracking down on colleges which it fears may be getting used as a front for illegal immigration.

The government agency regularly checks on the sponsors of students, and can suspend the licence of a college if it believes it is not fulfilling its duties.

The recruitment of overseas students represents a way for colleges to increase their income, with approximately 2,500 students from outside the EU currently enrolled in Scotland.

Urgent discussionsSome estimates suggest these students can bring in as much as£15m a year in fees.

The move comes at a particularly sensitive time as from next month, only those with highly trusted status can recruit overseas students.

Scotland’s Colleges, which represents college principals, confirmed it was seeking urgent discussions with the Home Office.

John Spencer, the organisation’s convener, said: “It is easy to understand why these rules exist, but it is nonetheless the case that they end up discriminating against colleges in Scotland.

“The loss of highly trusted status damages the reputation and prospects of the institution in attracting students to study with them.”

The UKBA confirmed to BBC Scotland that Cardonald College in Glasgow would not be able to submit another application with regards to trusted sponsor status until September this year.

It refused to comment on the situation with regards to the other colleges involved.

A spokesperson for Anniesland College said it did not currently have trusted sponsor status, but that this was due to an application and not as a result of an inspection.

The college added that it was currently working with the Home office and the UK Border Agency.

SNP MSP Sandra White met representatives from Scotland’s Colleges to discuss how they had been affected and is writing to Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop on the matter.

Ms White said: “Colleges are worried this is going to impact negatively on their international reputations.

“For some, the loss of highly trusted status for these institutions is devastating.”

The National Union of Students Scotland has demanded that colleges affected by the UKBA decision quickly provide information and support for their international students.

Robin Parker, NUS Scotland president, said: “The reports of a number of Scottish colleges losing their highly trusted status for taking in international students is incredibly worrying news.

“For those students from outside of the EU in the middle of their courses, this will be a huge cloud hanging over their heads which could harm their studies.

“The colleges involved now need to provide as much information as possible to their international students during this difficult time.”

Rayat London College In Uni Of Wales Probe Liquidated

BBC  |March 8, 2012

A London college which was one featured in an expose of visa fraud involving foreign students on University of Wales courses has gone into liquidation.

Rayat London College suspended three members of staff following the BBC Wales probe and the college was banned from enrolling new overseas students.

Week In Week Out looked into claims students were offered help to cheat their way to UoW degrees.

The University of Wales (UoW) has lodged an application with liquidators.

The college, in Heston, west London, was raided by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in October last year after the programme broadcast a number of allegations.

The UKBA said the college would not be allowed to recruit students from overseas while its investigations continued.

Alternative centres

At the time, Rayat London College denied any wrongdoing, saying it had suspended those of its staff allegedly involved and had referred the matter to the police.

Two hundred students were studying for a University of Wales-validated degree at the college.

It says about 80 will need to transfer to alternative centres who provide equivalent University of Wales degrees, and is helping them to do so.

The announcement of the liquidators going in was published in the London Gazette.

The liquidators were called in to the college last month.