Britain toughening student visa

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Britain toughening student visa

SPECIALBritain toughening student visa | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com

Wed, Dec 8th, 2010 12:06 am BdST

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Syed Nahas Pasha

London, Dec 7 (bdnews24.com)—The British immigration minister has proposed tougher entrance criteria and bar on students staying after end of study as part of a shake-up of the student visa system.

Limiting students' entitlements to work was also among the changes proposed by Damian Green on Tuesday.

Launching a public consultation on the reform of the student entry route to the UK of the Points Based System, the Home Office also revealed that 41 percent of students coming through this route were studying below degree level courses.

The eight-week consultation will end on January 31, 2011.

Two-thirds of the non-EU migrants who enter the UK come on student visas and the government wants to bring these numbers down. The governing Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition wants to fulfil its pledges to cut net migration from 200,000 to under 100,000 by 2015, according to the proposals.

Figures released last month show there has been a 40 per cent rise in the number of bogus colleges and that one in five foreigners who came to study in 2004 were still in UK five years later.

The government wants to make sure students leave UK after finishing their study and to scrap a controversial visa regime which allows students to stay in the UK to look for work.

Minister Green said: "I believe attracting talented students from abroad is vital to the UK but we must be more selective about who can come here and how long they can stay.

"People imagine students to be those who come here for a few years to study at university and then go home—that is not always the case. Too many students coming to study at below degree level have been coming here to live and work, rather than studying. We need to stop this abuse."

The consultation will target the tens of thousands of students who come to the UK each year to study at below degree level, such as A-levels, vocational courses and even GCSEs.

Last year, some 130,000 such students arrived from outside the EU. Almost half the near 280,000 of total students were given visas, with the majority attending private colleges.

Of those, more than 90,000 attended a private college to study courses from GCSEs to vocational qualifications.

Thousands more attended language schools. The rest attended established further education colleges or schools.

The UK government's proposals suggest restricting entry "only to those studying at degree level". The only exception will be the top most reliable and trusted universities and colleges which will be allowed to offer some courses at a lower level.

Green continued: "Today's proposals follow a major review of the system, and are aimed at a more selective system and, crucially, reducing the numbers to meet our target of reducing net migration to sustainable levels."

The proposals include: introducing a tougher English language requirement; ensuring students wishing to extend their studies show evidence of academic progression; and their ability to bring in dependants; and
improving the accreditation process for education providers, alongside more rigorous inspections.

The drive to ensure students return overseas after their course finishes will mean students will have to leave the UK and apply for a new visa to further their studies. They will need to show evidence of progression to a higher course. It will also see the closure of the post-study route under Tier One.

In addition, the government will be looking at ways to improve the inspection and accreditation of the education sector, to ensure the courses offered by private institutions of further and higher education are of the highest quality.

 

[Asian.Century]

You can only study for 5 years and thats it now...Deceived by COnservative govt into looting foregin students.


How do overseas students feel? Milked and bilked

Artwork channels ill feeling over high fees and visa changes. David Matthews reports

Amid fierce debate between the government and universities over the rights and wrongs of tougher student visa requirements, international students themselves have rarely had their voices heard.

But if an artwork by a South Korean student at the Royal College of Art is anything to go by, they are not feeling loved.

When Min Jae Huh decided to created an artistic protest against the decision to end post-study work visas, she asked other international students to suggest images that symbolise how they are seen in the UK.

Worryingly for UK universities, one respondent to Ms Huh's online call for suggestions - some of which feature in a collage of the results - put forward "criminals". Others suggested "a person in a crate, i.e. a disposable good", "ants", "something miserable" or any image that "plays with erectile dysfunction" - an idea that does not appear to have made it in to the final work.

But the most common theme was that international students felt that they were seen as "walking cash", a "cash machine" or a "cash cow".

On 6 April, the post-study work visa route, which allowed students to work for two years in the UK, was shut, although graduates can still stay if an eligible company sponsors them.

Ms Huh said that she may have to leave the UK two months after she finishes her two-year master's in visual communication later this year, rather than staying on as she had expected when she applied to the degree. She said that although it would be possible to get a new visa if she were hired by a large company, she would rather go freelance. If no such visa were forthcoming, she said, she would seek work in New York, where she has studied previously.

Although the coalition government was not "hostile" to international students, it was using them as a "political target", Ms Huh said. "They just want to reduce the number of foreigners in the UK."

The treatment of international students showed "two sides" to the UK, she said. Universities aggressively recruited students abroad, but then were "really unfriendly at the end".

Ms Huh said that international students were often reluctant to do anything "dramatic" in protest because "they can be kicked out [of an institution] after paying a lot of money".

She also felt it was unfair that international students had to pay three to four times more in tuition fees than UK or European Union students, yet were not allowed to stay and work. Fees in 2012-13 for Ms Huh's course will be £26,900 a year for international students and £9,000 a year for UK or EU students.

The images collated by Ms Huh featured in an exhibition at the Royal College of Art last month. Visitors to the event were invited to write their thoughts about the issue on postcards, which are now being sent to Damian Green, the immigration minister.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com

Times Higher Education - How do overseas students feel? Milked and bilked

 

[amidamaru]

then don't study in another country??


the only reason why you all go to the UK to study, is to work illegally, and then eventually get citizenship/permanent residency/

it is a rort and you know it.. so stop whinging about it... i hope australia makes it hard for international students too.

you can blame governments all you like, but the reality is, the only ones you have to blame is your own peoples... they rip the system off, the system gets changed.... no student is seen as a cash cow, i in fact know no-one who thinks of an international student as a cash cow... pretty much everyone see's them for exactly what they are, sponges. they sponge off our society, the money they spend IN our countrys is in fact our own money, earned here illegally... they very rarely spend ANY of their own money or their families money, that stays in bank to keep funds there to keep the governments satisfied.