Three UK varsities, 57 colleges banned from sponsoring international students

 

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.”

International conference on Marketing at IBA begins Saturday

KARACHI: The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) is all set to host the second International Conference on Marketing on May 3 and 4, 2014 (Saturday and Sunday) at its main campus.

According to the press release, the conference, to be convened by Yasmin Zafar, aims to explore the changes taking place in various facets of marketing.

The conference is designed to provide a rich blend of theory and practice through discussions on the latest advancements and their implications for marketers, the press release said.

Dr Ishrat Husain, Dean and Director of IBA, will also be addressing the conference. Industry leaders from New World Concepts, P&G and Jang Group are on the panels, it added. -PR

Amnesty International appalled over attack on Hamid Mir

 

LONDON: Amnesty International has revealed that Hamid Mir had on two occasions told the human rights organisation that he believed his life was under threat from different actors, including from the spooks and the Pakistani Taliban.
Amnesty International’s Maya Pastakia told The News: “Both of these groups (the Taliban and agents of spy agencies) have been implicated in abuses against journalists like abductions, torture and killings.” She said that Amnesty International was appalled by the attack on Hamid Mir and “wishes him a speedy recovery”.

She said: “The attempt on his life is emblematic of the threats faced by journalists in Pakistan, especially those working on sensitive national security issues or speaking out about human rights violations. However, it is important to note that we do not know who is responsible for the attack on Hamid Mir. The Pakistani authorities must carry out an independent, thorough and transparent investigation and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice in fair trials without recourse to the death penalty regardless of their affiliations to any state institution, political party or any other group.”

She said it was an unfortunate reality that journalists in Pakistan lived with the constant threat of harassment, violence and even killings, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world for media workers. She said that the Amnesty was deeply alarmed by the range and frequency of threats, intimidation, torture and killings of journalists – carried out with virtual impunity.

“AI has documented 32 targeted killings of journalists as a direct consequence of their reporting since 2008. Seven of those have occurred since the new government of Nawaz Sharif came to power. The attacks have a chilling effect on freedom of expression, with many journalists afraid of covering topics that cross a ‘red line’ that would leave them at risk of violence. The climate of fear has meant that many media outlets increasingly self-censor.”

She said that the Pakistani media community was under siege from all sides and in all corners of the country. Maya Pastakia said a range of state and non-state actors used violence and threats to silence negative coverage, including intelligence services, political parties, state security forces, and armed groups like the Taliban.

She called on the Government of Pakistan to ensure that those involved in the attack on Hamid Mir are brought to justice. “Investigations into attacks against journalists have rarely brought perpetrators to justice. It is an appalling indictment on the part of successive governments that only in two cases of journalist killings only a handful of people been prosecuted in the last two decades. The government must show political will. All suspected perpetrators must be tried before the courts, regardless of whether they are linked to powerful actors like the military, police or intelligence officials, armed groups or political parties.

“Media enterprises, whether Pakistani or international, must play their role in protecting journalists. They are liable under national law if they fail in their ‘duty of care’ to minimise and mitigate risks that journalists face in their duties. All journalists working on behalf of the enterprise, whether in capacity of staff, contractor or stringer should receive sufficient training, protections and resources to ensure their safety."

Necessary to support Big 3 to play international cricket: Sethi

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, Najam Sethi said it was necessary to support the ‘Big 3’ to play international cricket.
 
Najam Sethi added that next year Pakistan would nominate the ICC president.

Sethi held a news conference here on Friday after spending the previous day taking part in the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Dubai.

Najam Sethi told reporters that Pakistan would support the ‘Big 3’ after its conditions would be met.

The PCB chairman said he was first informed of the ‘Big 3’ issue on January 8. Sethi told reporters that he discovered on February 8 that Bangladesh was onboard with the proposal while Pakistan and Sri Lanka remained opposed to the ‘Big 3.’


Informing the media about the need to support the ‘Big 3,’ the PCB Chairman said he had held detailed meetings with all countries including India. “We have signed MoUs with all boards for tours over the course of the next eight years.”

According to Sethi some boards had cancelled tours to play against Pakistan. The PCB chairman said after signing the deal Rs30 billion revenue would be generated for Pakistan. The PCB Chairman further said that a series against India had been decided.

Najam Sethi added that the next meeting of the Asian Cricket Council will be held under his chair in Lahore.


When asked about Mohammed Amir, Sethi replied that talks were ongoing with the ICC and the former bowler would play cricket soon. “A decision regarding Amir’s punishment will be taken during the next ICC meeting in June.” Sethi said it was his understanding that Amir’s punishment would be reduced by one year.

 

Crimea takeover a theft on an international scale: Ukraine PM

People rally in support of Crimea joining Russia, with banners and portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reading "We are together," in Red Square in Moscow, Tuesday

Ukraine’s leadership simmered with a mix of hopelessness and anger at losing Crimea, tempering an influx of eager young men signing up as reservists with the growing certainty that no savior would deliver them from the Russian takeover.

For Ukraine’s government in Kiev, it is a crime — one the inexperienced leaders can do little do address in the face of an overwhelmingly superior military force. But for at least one of the group of people in the new leadership, it is a reality that must be dealt with on practical terms.
“This is theft on an international scale, when under the cover of troops, one country has just come and robbed a part of an independent state,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.
Yatsenyuk’s government now has to contend with the immediate complications of an armed confrontation that flared up Tuesday. A Ukrainian military spokesman said a serviceman was killed and another injured when a military facility in Crimea was stormed by armed men. The official said a truck bearing a Russian flag was used in the operation.
Yatsenyuk said the storming showed the dispute “has gone from the political stage to the military through the fault of the Russians.”
But if his rhetoric was combative, there was little to back it up. That is in part down to Ukraine’s relative helplessness and its stated desire to refrain from aggression, but is also a reflection of what authorities see as Moscow’s inflated demands. Rejecting international condemnation, Russian President Vladimir Putin cast his government’s actions as the righting of historic injustices.
“They are demanding to change the constitution, to change the system, to give up Crimea. This is the language of an aggressor … this is the language of Josef Stalin,” said Oleksiy Haran, a politics professor at the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. “Ukraine has done everything which it can. We resisted from violence, which again the West demanded from us. We didn’t kill any Russian soldiers.”
While not recognising the referendum, Ukrainian authorities’ preparations for the practicalities of the situation hint at a mood of resignation.
The justice minister offered emergency accommodation in vacation centers for any Ukrainian citizens who want to leave Crimea, where the ethnic Russian population is a majority.
“My advice to compatriots who live in Crimea is not to give up your Ukrainian passports. You are citizens of Ukraine and you are in effect hostages of the occupiers,” Justice Minister Pavel Petrenko told Channel 5 television. “People should make their own decision about revoking citizenship and nobody has the right to force them.”
Ukraine’s one major lever of power — the electricity and water that comes from the mainland — is complicated by the new Kiev government’s reluctance to alienate the residents, a majority of them ethnic Russians, but with large Ukrainian and Tatar communities.
With the outcome of the Crimean predicament still nominally in the balance, the government is confronting a growing clamor in eastern Ukraine, another heavily Russian-speaking part of the country, for secession or greater federalization. The claims of the ethnic Russian population ignited soon after the parliament that took center stage after last month’s ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych provoked outrage — from the Kremlin most notably — by moving to downgrade the role of the Russian language.
That plan has since been dropped and Yatsenyuk on Tuesday insisted that Russian would retain its official status in areas where it is spoken by the majority.
“Nobody is encroaching on your right to freely use the Russian language. My wife Tereziya speaks primarily in Russian. And she, like millions of other Russian speakers, does not require protection from the Kremlin,” he said.
To deal with Moscow, Ukraine will need to restore channels of dialogue, which Russia is reluctant to do with a post-revolutionary government that it describes in the most disparaging terms.
Sergei Taruta, a billionaire businessman appointed by interim authorities to govern the heavily industrial Donetsk region, told The Associated Press that he has proposed the creation of a “national unity forum” as a possible solution to that problem.
“We should choose delegates that could lead diplomatic dialogue with Russia. Because as I understand it, there is no negotiator now that has a legitimate mandate,” he said. “It is only through a negotiation that we can solve the fraught problems that affect both Crimea and eastern Ukraine. And I think that this negotiating group should also work with a group of Western guarantors that could vouch for the territorial integrity of our country.”
The government announced this week that it will over the coming 45 days mobilize tens of thousands of reservists. Recruitment officers stationed along a main street in the capital, Kiev, were signing up volunteers on Tuesday.
At least one of the self-defense groups that came to prominence during the protests, Spilna Sprava, has intimated that it intends to ready for a fight as a partisan force.
“In the conditions of war with Russia, the regular army has shown itself to be insufficiently effective, which is something Ukraine’s army command has admitted,” Interfax news agency cited Spilna Sprava coordinator Alexander Danilyuk as saying.
On and around the Kiev square from which the protest movement sprung up, crude barricades remain in place and within them, groups of men young and old in store-bought fatigues mill around, sharing jokes and warming themselves by barrel fires.
The plan is for people on the Maidan, as the square is known, to stay until a new and elected government is formed and to ensure that it lives up to its promises.
Vasily Volchenko, a 51-year old retired career military officer manning a stall of knick-knacks memorializing the bloody protests that culminated in Yanukovych’s overthrow, said the loss of Crimea is not going down well.
“We had hoped the government, even though it is only provisional, would react quickly, but they have done practically nothing,” he said. “If they think they can give up Crimea that easily, then they are quite mistaken. We will just self-organize, because we are not giving up our Ukraine to anybody.”

International investors urged to grab huge potential and opportunities in energy and infrastructure sectors

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar Friday urged international investors to grab huge potential and opportunities in Pakistan's energy and infrastructure sectors.

He was talking to Philip Barton, British High Commissioner to Pakistan accompanied by Richard Montgomery, Head of UK Department for International Development, Pakistan who called on the Minister here at the Finance Ministry.

The Minister informed the delegation that Pakistan's economy is performing much better as all the economic indicators are on the positive side.

The GDP is growing up and the rate of inflation is going down.

Dar said that during the last seven months of the current fiscal year there has been 17% growth in taxes collection whereas it was less than 3% last year.

"We are confident to meet our targets for the current fiscal year", he remarked.

He added that "we will be sticking to disciplinary mechanism on expenditure side and enhance our allocation for developmental activities and disbursements to poor people through social safety networks".

He emphasized that there is a great potential for trade expansion with the United Kingdom in the light of Prime Minister's vision for consistency in economic policies and creating an atmosphere where foreign investors can invest in energy, hydrocarbons and infrastructure projects.

The Minister also briefed the High Commissioner about his recent visit to Afghanistan and development projects including Torkham-Jalalabad Highway and Kidney Hospital, undertaken by Pakistan.

He said that these are the signature projects between Pakistan and Afghanistan which are close to our hearts.

He said that the visit went very well in general public of that brotherly country.

The Minister concluded that the best way the United Kingdom can help is to encourage the international investors to grab the huge potential and opportunities available in Pakistan in energy and infrastructure sectors.

The High Commissioner said that making Pakistan more prosperous is key to our relationship.

He said that we are very keen to work with Pakistan on enhancing our commercial and economic relations.

He said that the Pakistani Diaspora in United Kingdom is of a great value for us who consider Pakistan as their second home. He said that we are impressed with the transparency and merit oriented policies, the government is pursuing.

He added that in a democracy, fundamental policy of the government is to collect taxes and allocate resources for development.

He also appreciated Minister's visit to Jallalabad, despite security issues on the day when a terrorist act happened in Kunar province.

He expressed his Government's resolve to work with Pakistan in bringing peace and prosperity to the region.

Moreover, the High Commissioner added, that we are of firm belief that CASA-1000 and energy corridor between Pakistan- Afghanistan and Central Asian Republic States will promote regional trade and the United Kingdom is willing to help in these projects.

He also assured the Finance Minister that United Kingdom is looking forward to help Pakistan in meeting their economic problems and to bring in foreign investment.

Mr. Montgomery said that UK AID is working with the State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and other public and private banking sector for providing agricultural financing including micro-enterprise loans and savings services to the rural low income clients in Pakistan.

He said that the initiative will help spur innovative practices to increase financial services in the agriculture sector.

International conspiracy being hatched to destabilize country: Hashmi

ISLAMABAD: President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Makhdoom Javed Hashmi Tuesday said that international conspiracy was being hatched out to destabilize the country.

Talking to mediapersons out side the Parliament House, Javed Hashmi said that the government should root out the causes of terrorism and maintain law and order in the country.

He said that PTI demanded the government to take stern action against those involved in the heinous terrorist act of district courts Islamabad.

Javed Hashmi said that the incident was failure of the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICT) which disturbed the whole country again.