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andymadmak
Original Poster
6,231 posts
139 months
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Serious irregularities that they were warned about, but failed to address apparently Anyone care to speculate what the issues might have been? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19419395Apparently, no other universtities are in the same level of doo doo, however this does not stop the NUS getting hysterical.... NUS leader on bbc website said: The NUS has contacted Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May to "express anger at the way that decisions have been made in recent weeks and to reiterate the potentially catastrophic effects on higher education as a £12.5bn per year export industry for the UK".
NUS president Liam Burns said: "This decision will create panic and potential heartbreak for students not just at London Met but also all around the country.
"Politicians need to realise that a continued attitude of suspicion towards international students could endanger the continuation of higher education as a successful export industry.
"This heavy-handed decision makes no sense for students, no sense for institutions and no sense for the country. This situation and the botched process by which the decision was arrived at could be avoided if international students were not included in statistics of permanent migrants."
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iphonedyou
2,569 posts
26 months
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The NUS would hold a lot more authority if they actually stopped and thought before opening their powerless mouths.
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dxg
2,796 posts
129 months
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Glasgow Caledonian had the same issue a year or two back. Something to do with their overseas nursing students working what the Home Office considered to be a full time job. They forgot that much of nursing education is practice based.
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Happy82
5,185 posts
38 months
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iphonedyou said: The NUS would hold a lot more authority if they actually stopped and thought before opening their powerless mouths. It is made up of sociology students, what do you expect? 
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Du1point8
14,314 posts
61 months
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I wonder how many got a visa and dropped out before first term never to be seen again after not having paid a thing.
This could bite NUS people quite badly if it is a big thing, as they have waded in 2 footed before the reasons have been given for the revoking of the licence.
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Isaac Hunt
6,776 posts
80 months
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Du1point8 said: I wonder how many got a visa and dropped out before first term never to be seen again after not having paid a thing.
This could bite NUS people quite badly if it is a big thing, as they have waded in 2 footed before the reasons have been given for the revoking of the licence. Reasons given as "immigration Minister Damian Green said London Metropolitan University had failed in three particular areas: 1. More than a quarter of the 101 students sampled were studying at the university when they had no leave to remain in this country 2. A "significant proportion" of checked files found "no proper evidence" that the mandatory English levels had been reached 3. Universities must know that students are turning up for their course and are not using a student visa to enter the country for work, but more than half of the records sampled suggested the university "just didn't know" whether students were turning up for classes or not.
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andymadmak
Original Poster
6,231 posts
139 months
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Keith Vaz wades in: BBC website said: Mr Vaz has written to Immigration Minister Damian Green asking for clarification over whether the university is going to lose its "highly trusted sponsor" status.
While supporting efforts to "clamp down on the abuse of student visas", Mr Vaz said: "For the sake of this university and others, especially at this time of year, I hope the minister will urgently clarify the situation." UK Border Agency responds that no decision has been made yet BBC website said: London Metropolitan had its highly trusted sponsor status suspended in July - which prevented it from being allowed to recruit overseas students.
The UKBA says it will not comment on why the licence was suspended - but a newspaper report says that the university had been accused of being a "threat to immigration control", a claim denied by the university.
But with the new term approaching, there has been no decision on whether the licence will be revoked or reinstated.
The university's vice chancellor Malcolm Gillies said the continuing doubt was "hugely worrying" for the university students and staff.
Professor Gillies also warned of the damage to the wider UK higher education sector as it competed with other countries to recruit overseas students.
"What message will it send abroad?" he said. oh I dunno, that we expect rules to be adhered to, and for the administration of the schemes to be rigorous in ensuring this?  UK Border Agency said: A statement from the UKBA said: "Any education provider has to meet strict standards, ensuring they provide high quality education, and take their immigration responsibilities seriously. We will not tolerate any abuse of the immigration system."
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miniman
16,015 posts
131 months
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Happy82 said: iphonedyou said: The NUS would hold a lot more authority if they actually stopped and thought before opening their powerless mouths. It is made up of sociology students, what do you expect? The NUS leadership team, earlier. 
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otolith
19,408 posts
73 months
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Du1point8 said: This could bite NUS people quite badly if it is a big thing, as they have waded in 2 footed before the reasons have been given for the revoking of the licence. From his comment on R4 this morning, I think the NUS guy's position is that he doesn't agree with the government's policy of cracking down on illegal immigration in the first place, so I don't think he cares whether the university is allowing visa abuse.
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Countdown
6,383 posts
65 months
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I'm surprised it's taken so long for people to twig.
The work opportunities here are FAR better than those available in Africa /Asia. So people get student visas, come to the UK and then work cash in hand for 3/4 years. After that time they either "disappear" or get married to a local. Once they get ILtR they get divorced and marry somebody from "back home ".
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Digga
10,898 posts
152 months
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miniman said: Happy82 said: iphonedyou said: The NUS would hold a lot more authority if they actually stopped and thought before opening their powerless mouths. It is made up of sociology students, what do you expect? The NUS leadership team, earlier. I always wondered how students had the time to get involved with the NUS. But then I was on a proper course - engineering - so I actually had lectures 5 days a week and starting first thing. IME they were a self-righteous bunch of petty Bolshevics.
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Mark Benson
2,541 posts
138 months
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iphonedyou said: The NUS would hold a lot more authority if they actually stopped and thought before opening their powerless mouths. The NUS would hold a lot more authority if it weren't populated with Socialist Worker types on their way to a career in the Labour party. The only reason they get the membership they do is that you need an NUS card to get into the cheap bars on campus at most universities.
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Du1point8
14,314 posts
61 months
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Mark Benson said: iphonedyou said: The NUS would hold a lot more authority if they actually stopped and thought before opening their powerless mouths. The NUS would hold a lot more authority if it weren't populated with Socialist Worker types on their way to a career in the Labour party. The only reason they get the membership they do is that you need an NUS card to get into the cheap bars on campus at most universities. I remember a friend of mine refusing to have anything to do with the NUS... then found out the perks of being president... ended up 2 friends going against each other to win the spot. Both were from the hockey team and perpetual piss heads, they found out they could stay at Uni for another X years as president and the Uni would pay them to stay, plus give them perks as well... I bet the uni were not expecting the NUS president to attend shag a fresher week as an active participant in the competition we ran every year... The amount of times I had to carry him home was stupid.
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Carfiend
3,186 posts
78 months
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Digga said: I always wondered how students had the time to get involved with the NUS. But then I was on a proper course - engineering - so I actually had lectures 5 days a week and starting first thing. IME they were a self-righteous bunch of petty Bolshevics. All I remember about the Student Union politics were the two guys who got dressed up in big costumes for campaigning and they ended up having a fight because one started a rumour the other was gay.
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Caulkhead
4,938 posts
26 months
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I suspect this is widespread, what concerns me is that the universities are allowed to validate visa's themselves.
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Mr Snap
891 posts
26 months
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Not been thought through properly but makes for great headlines in The Daily Mail. I have no problem dealing with students who break the visa rules but they should be dealt with on an individual basis. If this is going to be repeated at other colleges too, I think it's really bad PR for UK PLC. A Colombian friend sent me this link earlier http://www.eltiempo.com/vida-de-hoy/educacion/ARTI...My spanish isn't great but, although it seems to be a fair report, it amazes me that this is a news item in Bogota. Yep, Bogota! So, I guess, it's being repeated everywhere else around the world, too... Most overseas students go home after their studies but maintain vitally important commercial and cultural links back in the UK. This is why most of Europe is now offering post-grad qualification taught IN ENGLISH. (I'm currently considering doing a PH'D in France at the moment because it's so much cheaper there...). So, it's the government going for a soft target - in order to reduce immigration figures by a tiny fraction and win headlines - but only managing to shoot themselves in the foot.
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JagLover
17,583 posts
104 months
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Mr Snap said: I have no problem dealing with students who break the visa rules but they should be dealt with on an individual basis. The student VISA system works on trust. The government needs to know that universities are carrying out basic checks before admitting a student from overseas and those admitted are attending classes rather than working full time. It is the responsibility of the university to ensure this and if they fail to do so what option does the government have but to refuse them permission to sponsor foreign students?
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tonker
43,849 posts
117 months
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they were also under fire for overclaiming nearly £60M for students who had dropped out. It seems entirely right to deal with how this university operates.
It's also the place that was promoting the possibility of alcohol free zones - no doubt just some PR to try to attract even more kebab shop workers and taxi drivers to apply.
Let's also be honest, it's a sht1 university. It shouldn't really be one. It's just been an exercise in lining pockets for its management. At the public expense.
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Ozzie Osmond
12,130 posts
115 months
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Can anyone please explain to me how the "student visa problem" differs from people arriving in UK for a holiday and deciding to stay?
It's not as if London is trying to suppress foreign tourism!
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tonker
43,849 posts
117 months
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Ozzie Osmond said: Can anyone please explain to me how the "student visa problem" differs from people arriving in UK for a holiday and deciding to stay?
It's not as if London is trying to suppress foreign tourism! If you get a student visa, you get leave to remain for the term of the course. And it's harder to get someone out if they have a student visa..... they basically get 3 years grace to find a bride with an EU visa and impregnate her before bringing their family over from Armpitistan (twinned with Rotherham) so getting leave to remain. That's often too hard to do in 6 months...
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