LONDON:
Three universities and 57 private colleges have been told they cannot
sponsor any new international students in a major crackdown on suspect
English language qualifications.
In a statement to the
House of Commons on June 24, immigration minister James Brokenshire
said he was taking the action in the light of “detailed and wide-ranging
investigation into actions by organised criminals to falsify English
language tests for student visa applicants”.
It follows a
BBC Panorama expose in February, which revealed systematic cheating in
tests from an organisation called the Educational Testing Service
(ETS).More than 29,000 invalid results and 19,000 questionable results
had been identified so far, though “it is likely that the true totals
will be higher,” said Brokenshire, who condemned the organised
criminality behind the fraud.
Brokenshire said the Home
Office had suspended the highly trusted status of Glyndwr University, in
north Wales, which enables it to sponsor the visas of non-European
Union students.
Some 230 students sponsored by Glyndwr had
been identified as having invalid test results provided by ETS – a
figure rising to 350 if questionable scores were counted.The Home Office
has also told the University of Bedfordshire and the University of West
London that “they are no longer allowed to sponsor new students pending
further investigations which will decide whether they too should be
suspended”, Brokenshire added.
At the UWL, the number of
sponsored students with invalid scores stood at 210 – rising to 290 if
questionable ones were included, he said.In addition, Brokenshire said
the licences of 57 private further education colleges to recruit foreign
students had been suspended. According to an official list seen by the
Times Higher Education, they include the London School of Business and
Finance (LSBF).
Further abuse was also taking place in the
London sub-campuses of other UK universities, but they had not been
suspended as they were taking steps to resolve the issues, Brokenshire
added.
However, the Quality Assurance Agency had been
asked to examine the London campuses to see whether any further action
should be taken against the parent institutions, he said. Immigration
officers had also established that a number of overseas university
students were earning more than £20,000 a year despite the rule that
they must not work more than 20 hours a week during term time, he said.
One
university student was working a 60-hour week for six months, he said.
Overseas students at several private colleges are not allowed to work,
yet one college — LSBF — has 290 foreign students who worked and paid
tax last year, he added.
A Glyndwr spokesman said the
university was “deeply upset” that its sponsor licence had been
suspended and was working with the UK Visas and Immigration “to
investigate the issues raised”.
Bedfordshire said it had
audited “all current students who have progressed to us from ETS” and
this had enabled it to “reassure” the UKVI that there was no “evidence
of any organised attack” on the university’s compliance with immigration
rules.
West London vice-chancellor Peter John said it
would be “working closely with UKVI over the next seven days and will
issue a further statement after that time”. A spokesman for the LSBF
said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the visa licence
suspensions. “We take our commitments very seriously and we will work
closely with UKVI to resolve this situation swiftly in the near future,”
he said.
Liam Byrne, shadow minister for universities,
science and skills, said Labour supported “any action” that protects the
“hard-earned reputation” of the UK higher education “but today’s threat
has come from another immigration crisis that’s happened on this
government’s watch.”
