Challenging the Tier 4 Regime

At the recent meeting organised by Pupil’s Rights, and facilitated by JCWI, we were delighted to have been joined by barrister, Edward Nicholson from No. 5 Chambers. Whilst students spoke about the immigration and other problems they were encountering as a result of revocation of licences of their colleges, Edward spoke about his pending, and very interesting legal challenges on behalf of New London College – these have  implications for the lawfulness of the sponsorship regime.

Students and the international education shambles

TASMAC's London campus closed with no refunds or assistance for its former students - the University continues to operater in India

Media coverage of ‘bogus’ colleges conflates the issue with ‘bogus’ students. The accepted establishment or mainstream media line is that, colleges are established purely to offer an immigration route to the UK and both parties (college and students) are obviously in on the plot from the start.

While these scams undoubtedly take place, the reality for many students is brutal and costly, with education being denied, and students being left vastly out of pocket. There are few, if any, articles in the mainstream media which recognise that students at closed international colleges are the victims of such events.

Young bear brunt of migration policies

As the Coalition Government continues in its reckless pursuit of cutting immigration, young people are getting a disproportionately raw deal from the policy twists and turns emanating from the Home Office. In the past few weeks we have witnessed the collapse of the curb on young married couples obtaining visas to live in the UK, but that has been the only bright star in a dark and gloomy sky.

‘Bogus’ Colleges: what about their Genuine Students?

450 colleges had their ‘trusted sponsor’ status revoked in the past year. This affects around 11,000 overseas students. Much is being said in the media about the immigration abuses of student visas, but the coverage forgets the real victims of this headline figure – the students.

Trouble ahead for UK business schools: the demise of the post study work visa

The prestigious London Business School: will it soon be feeling the pressure?

Guest post from Dina Giannikopoulou. Dina is a researcher with the  Association of MBAs.

Business education has been significantly impacted as a result of the Student Immigration Consultation, with many business schools already reporting declining numbers of applications and enrolments compared with this time last year.

When the Association of MBAs—the worldwide accreditation body for postgraduate business degrees—first contacted its 47 accredited UK member schools in late 2010 to gauge reactions to the consultation, we were overwhelmed by the volume and degree of concern expressed across the board. Almost 90% signed our open letter to the press and Parliament arguing that, if implemented, the government’s plans would have a serious impact on the competitiveness, finances and reputation of UK business schools and the wider economy.

Home Secretary announces student visa restrictions

University Vice Chancellors, campaigners, politicians and economists have all pointed to the adverse effects on the UK’s economy that restrictions on overseas students would have. Professor Eric Thomas, VC of Bristol University has spoken out against the curbs saying the overseas students provide an important income stream for his university.

The Home Secretary today mainly targetted further education, and private colleges in her restrictions on student visas.

In her announcement today, Theresa May revealed that:

Home Affairs Committee reports on Student Visas

Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Committee

Today the Home Affairs Committe report on Student Visas is published. Here is a quick briefing on it’s main points. we will link to the report itself once it is freely available online.

From the cross-party consensus “broadly supportive of the Governments’ policy of reducing immigration”[1], the Home Affairs Committee today calls for restraint in the more severe restrictions lined up for overseas students.

A Study in Stupidity

We’ve just finished knocking together a quick response to UK Border Agency Consultation The Student Immigration System.

Basically the UK Border Agency has been looking for ways to significantly reduce the number of  non-EEA students and graduates in the UK in order to reach its overall objective of reducing immigration to the UK to the level of the 1990s.

The wisdom of cutting student numbers – 8 facts worth knowing

Closing the door on International Students in the UK

Guest Post: by Valerie Hartwich. Valerie is convenor of the ‘Visiting artists and academics’ campaign of the Manifesto Club and writes the  Free Movement blog at their website. This post is the second response published here to the Government’s consultation on Student Immigration. The deadline for responses to the consultation is 31 January 2011.

For months now a clampdown on the student migrant route has been expected. Finally, a consultation on capping tier 4 was announced last month. Facing pressure by the business lobby but intent on keeping their migration electoral promise, Damian Green and Theresa May had long prepared the ground by repeatedly mentioning just how many non-EEA students come and stay in the UK after their studies. In doing so, they had been working public opinion into a dam against the strong opposition they know they will face, in order to pass a series of worrying proposals.

Student proposals – a dose of daft economics drizzled with discrimination

We’d previously noted that the Migration Advisory Committee’s conclusion was that if the Government is to meet its political target – the reduction of immigration to tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands, students and spouses will have to bear their share of the cuts.

Today’s consultation paper  issued by the UK Border Agency ‘the student immigration system’ builds upon the above by discussing how it intends to go about undertaking this task, whilst also more generally minimising abuse within the system.

The measures the paper advances in part reflect a reversal of immigration developments under the Labour Government. These as a matter of policy deliberately sought to make the UK an attractive destination for students. They also to some extent represent policy continuity in that they build upon control mechanisms established under Labour to regulate a larger international student presence.