Student Loans Fraud Exposed by BBC Panorama

Greenwich School of Management in London - also known as GSM London has come under scrutiny amid reports from BBC panorama programme today, The BBC says whistle blowers tipped it off about a "dodgy freelance agent" and malpractices in recruiting students for its degree programme with Plymouth University .

BBC Panorama's investigation comes at a time of massive change in Higher education landscape in England, The Higher Education and Research Act, passed earlier this year, would create a powerful new regulator for higher education in England called the Office for Students. The government is also looking at whether new businesses could offer degrees from day one on a probationary basis, which could attract interest from companies operating elsewhere in the world.

About £400m-a-year is received by 112 private colleges through the student loan system. The government is keen to expand the sector as part of reforms designed to make degree and diploma courses more accessible to people who might otherwise find it difficult to enter higher education.

This year total student loan debt, from universities and private colleges, amounted to £100bn.

In todays BBC's  Panaorama programme Plymouth University and GSM London college have been heavily implicated in student loan fraud, both institutions have declined direct involvement in the matter. You can see more on this story on Panorama, Student Loan Scandal on BBC One at 7.30pm on Monday 13th November and afterwards on iPlayer.

More than 99,000 non-EU students visas curtailed by the Home Office in the past three years

More than 30,000 non-EU students a year have had their visas curtailed by the Home Office in the past three years, according to the figures obtained by BBC News show. Also it is revealed that 410 educational establishments had their licences to sponsor international students revoked in the same period.

The figures, released by the Home Office under Freedom of Information rules, show 99,635 students had their visas curtailed in the three years to the end of December 2015:

• 33,210 in 2013
• 34,210 in 2014
• 32,215 in 2015

Of the educational establishments that lost their licences, there were

• 199 in 2013
• 129 in 2014
• 72 in 2015

Some later had their licences reinstated - but, overall, the number of establishments holding them fell from 1,706 in 2013 to 1,405 by the end of last year.

According to official figures, 201,763 students applied for UK study visas last year.

These include:

• 166,366 at universities
• 15,982 in further education
• 2,930 in English language schools
• 13,675 in independent schools

According to an Office of National Statistics published in January, 192,000 international students arrived in the UK for long-term study in the year to June 2015 - down from a peak of 238,000 in 2010.

Summary of Recent Changes to UK Student Visa 2014, 2015, 2016 July onward
1. Summary of Recent Changes to UK Student Visa and News Watch end of 2015 to 2016,February

2. An overview of the student immigration rules 2016 April onward (Download from UKCISA)

Summary of Recent Changes to UK Student Visa and News Watch end of 2015 to 2016,February

Summary of Recent Changes to UK Student Visa and News watch on recent phenomenon in the UK Higher Education in respect to UK Visa matters for the prospect of International Students in UK

Towards the End of 2015 following following rules changed for international students specifically non EU students in UK - UK Student Visa- New Changes for International Students - 2015, November

The number of new entrants to Scottish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from India fell by 63% between 2010/11 and 2013/14. At present it is estimated only around 2500 Indian students are perusing higher education in Scotland.. 

The placid hope for re introduction of Post study work (PSW) visa came to an end with the UK governments announcement of not to reintroducing the PSW visa for international students

Last Month, January, 2016,  Data published by London & Partners, the city’s official promotion organisation revealed that China remains the leading source of London’s international student population, with 13,460 students from the country residing in the UK’s capital and also showed Indians student numbers are rapidly falling down in London due to recent changes to UK student visa regulations.

Last week, February 2016, A student visa scam involving at least half a million pounds has been unearthed in west London where an unscrupulous immigration consultant have made money from international students by promising them a Tier 2 visa work visa after completion of their studies.

The much controversial Institution, LSBF which is owned by Global University Systems lost its Tier 4 licence again curtailing hundreds of student visas, Some 350 international students have been told they must leave the UK by the end of next month (March, 2016) - Curtailment letters issued by the Home office stated that “It is not considered that the circumstances in your case are such that discretion should be exercised in your favour,” “The secretary of state has therefore decided to curtail your leave to enter or remain.” Continued with standard refusal statements According to the Institution/LSBF, most of the students were either in the final year of an undergraduate degree or on one-year master's programmes

Today, 11th February,2016, Times Higher Education(THE) reported on the forced departure from the UK of a US PhD graduate, The author, Martin McQuillan , pro vice-chancellor for research at Kingston University. argues that Non-EU students are now being sacrificed as political pawns in his article in THE.

Note / Public domain information: Paul is a US citizen who was awarded a PhD by the University of Birmingham. He was well known as a participant in Kingston University’s Shakespeare Seminar and was working on postdoctoral applications to the Wellcome and the Leverhulme trusts to continue his research at Kingston. This was until he was arrested at his home address in Stratford-upon-Avon and detained at Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre in Lincolnshire for 10 days, before being released to leave the UK of his own volition.

College fraud claim: Payments to a Cardiff campus and its students were suspended

A recruiter for West London Vocational Training College in Cardiff said they could cheat their way to receiving thousands of pounds, Recruiter, Kazi Shajahan offered to sell coursework needed for qualifications.

It prompted Education Minister Huw Lewis to suspend payments to West London Vocational Training College and to its Cardiff students.

The college, based on the city's Greyfriars Road, has nearly 100 IT and business students. Those on Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) can receive up to £17,000 a year in loans and grants, which will only be repaid when they earn more than £21,000 annually.

One of the journalists faked a GCSE certificate and applied for funding which was approved. Another potential student, who does not want to be identified, says Mr Shajahan offered him the chance to take part. "He was offering £10,000 student finance plus the grant," he claimed.

Also College principal Dr Manoj Kumar is revealed to have faked his Cambridge University PhD and teaching certificates

Courtesy: BBC Wales presenter Tim Rogers and the Week In Week Out team uncovered the allegations Week In Week Out is on BBC One Wales at 22:40 GMT on Tuesday, 1 December

65 Colleges Licences Revoked, 600 Plus Students Removed or Detained

Last yearThe UK government revoked the licences of 54 plus private colleges, since then, according to Home Office sources more than 1,600 enforcement visits have been made and over 600 individuals have been served removal notices or detained in relation to curtailment of student visa matters

Amid upcoming elections the number one issue has become Immigration according to the recent opinion polls and pressure has flown down from political hierarchy to authorities such as UKVI to exercise more grip on Immigration, also additional measures has been introduced to crack down on bogus students which included recent measures such as mandatory landlord checks on tenants’ immigration status, which are currently being trialled in the West Midlands.

One of the trigger in this ongoing crack down is with fraud in English language testing system detected last year - now more than 33,725 invalid TOEIC test results have been reported by ETS Global to the Home Office, along with 22,694 questionable results – up from 19,000 and 29,000 respectively at the time of the original announcement and investigation.

Crack down on student visa scams is not unique to UK it is a common trend in many countries, in Australia the number of student visas cancelled by the Australian government has more than tripled in the last two years (according to The Australian that student visa cancellations more than doubled from 1,978 in 2012 to 4,940 in 2013, rising again to 7,061 in the last financial year) as instances of falsified test results and/or financial documents have soared, we reckon this trend is not only purely on irregularities on student front and private tier institutions but also stems largely from the popular dis comfort of Immigrants in the wider society thus has become a political issue

We at UKEducationForAll.com kindly urge that all Sponsors who take students from institutions whose licences have been revoked will need to undertake their normal compliance checks and there is no reason in principle why they should not accept such students who have not, individually, been found to be at fault

List of suspended or revoked colleges 2015 ( Updated Frequently)

List of suspended or revoked colleges as of 24th October, 2014

The UK government has revoked the licences of 54 private colleges as of 23rd October, 2014, in its investigation into immigration fraud launched in June. The institutions were among 57 centres to have their licences suspended by the Home Office (Refer our earlier post)

Simon Walker, director-general of the Institute of Directors, said he was "appalled" by how overseas students had been caught up in targets for reducing immigration into the UK. “Universities were victims of political point-scoring”, said Mr Walker.

We at UKEducationForAll.com kindly urge that all Sponsors who take students from institutions whose licences have been revoked will need to undertake their normal compliance checks and there is no reason in principle why they should not accept such students who have not, individually, been found to be at fault.

We like to emphasise that Institutions who have their licences revoked still have a duty of care in ensuring that their students complete their studies and we firmly expect that they will honour this and assist in making appropriate arrangements.

Students, who are still unclear or concerned about their immigration status should contact Home Office on 0114 207 1688 (UK) or 0044 114 207 1688 (outside UK) between 9:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday and 9:00am to 1:00pm on Saturday.

The following Colleges can no longer recruit or teach international students (Licenses Revoked or Surrendered)

1. Alpha Meridian College – Revoked

2. APS Computer Solutions Ltd Trading As Pitman Training Centre Peterborough – Revoked

3. Birmingham Institute of Education Training and Technology – Revoked

4. Blake Hall College – Revoked

5. Bradford College of Management – Surrendered

6. Bradford Metropolitan College – Revoked

7. Bradford Regional College – Revoked

8. Bristol College of Accountancy – Revoked

9. Britain College – Surrendered

10.CAHRO Academy Ltd – Revoked

11.Central College London (a division of Huawen Institute) – Revoked

12.Central Cranbrook College – Revoked

13.Citizen 2000 Education Institute – Revoked

14.City of London Academy – Revoked

15.College of Advanced Studies – Revoked

16.College of East London – Revoked

17.College of Excellence Limited – Revoked

18.Essex College Ltd – Revoked

19.Eynsford College – Revoked

20.Forbes Graduate School – Revoked

21.Hammersmith Management College – Revoked

22.Helios International College – Revoked

23.Interlink College of Technology and Business Studies – Revoked

24.Katherine and King's College of London – Revoked

25.Kinnaird College – Revoked

26.LIT LON Ltd – Revoked

27.London Academy of Management and Business (LAMB) – Surrendered

28.London Churchill College – Surrendered

29.London College of Finance and Accounting – Revoked

30.London College of Business Management and Computing Studies –Surrendered

31.London Corporate College – Revoked

32.London Metropolitan College – Revoked

33.London Premier College Limited – Revoked

34.London Regal College – Revoked

35.London School of Marketing Trading As LS Business School – Revoked

36.London School of Technology – Revoked

37.London St. Andrew's College – Revoked

38.Manchester College of Management Sciences Limited – Revoked

39.Manchester International College – Revoked

40.Manchester Trinity College Limited – Revoked

41.Midlands Academy of Business and Technology – Revoked

42.North West College Reading – Revoked

43.Pharez UK Ltd Trading As Pharez College – Revoked

44.Queensbury College – Revoked

45.Radcliffe College – Revoked

46.Sanjari International College – Revoked

47.Shakespeare College – Revoked

48.Stanfords College UK Limited – Revoked

49.Superior College London – Revoked

50.UK Business Academy – Revoked

51.UK Vocational Training College Trading As UK College of Arts and

Technology – Revoked

52.Vernon Community College – Revoked

53.West George College – Revoked

54.West London Business College Ltd – Revoked

As at 23 October 15:00

Reference

List of suspended colleges in UK 2014

list of revoked colleges in UK 2014

List of suspended or revoked colleges as of 24th  October, 2014 ( Updated Frequently)

Money is driving force of rise in foreign students seeking UK degree

The number of international students coming to study in Britain has risen significantly in recent years. Holly Watt analyzes the trend
 

In autumn 2010, 298,110 students from outside the EU were in higher education courses. The number rose 6.2 per cent in one year, up from 280,760 in autumn 2009. That increase was largely driven by an influx from China and India.

In two years, the number of Chinese students rose by 43 per cent, with 67,325 in British higher education in 2010-11. The number of Indians rose by 14.7 per cent to 39,090.

The number from Saudi Arabia almost doubled to 10,270. The reason for the increase is alleged to be largely commercial.

At present, tuition fees for British students are capped at £9,000 a year. But UCL in London, for example, charges international students £14,000,... Read more here

Courtesy: The Telegraph

Asian immigrants in cash-for-qualifications “scam”

Investigations led to the discovery of colleges that were allegedly selling English language qualifications. The examination watchdog, Ofqual, found that certificates were being issued with “virtually no training or learning taking place and with insufficient rigour in the assessment process”.

According to The Times, one such college — grandly named Oxford College of Management Sciences — is being investigated after it was alleged that it was selling English language certificates for between £250 to £450. The newspaper said a 38-year-old UK-based Pakistani citizen Rizwan Ahmed Kiyani, who runs the college with another fellow Pakistani was being investigated by the U.K. Border Agency which was “actively seeking to remove both men from the country”.

To Read More Click Here

Bogus students facing global crackdown

"Unscrupulous" recruitment agents who bring bogus overseas students into the UK are being targeted in an international initiative.

The British Council has for the first time brought together countries including the UK, the US and Australia to try to keep out such students.

The council says there are "widespread concerns" about dishonest agents.

Universities say the majority of agents are legitimate and are an important way of finding overseas students.

Rogue agents are accused of falsifying documents and helping people to get around the student visa system, the rules of which immigration authorities in the UK have tried to tighten.

Expanding business

It is a problem that raises concerns about illegal immigration and the possibility of people with terrorist intentions coming into the country, although in many cases it is the students themselves who are being duped.

A meeting of immigration and education authorities in London, the first of its kind, is intended to co-ordinate a multi-national response.

Higher education has become a globalised market and the British Council says there needs to be an international approach to tackling fraud.

In particular there are concerns about agents fraudulently sending students from Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan and parts of Africa.

Legitimate agents recruit for a commission, which can be worth several thousands of pounds per student, bringing overseas students to universities, colleges and language schools.

Four out of five UK universities use agents, says the British Council, with "many thousands" of individual agents working in this expanding business.

The British Council says that some dishonest agents advertise courses as a route to migration and claim to "guarantee" success in admission tests.

Agents have also cheated honest applicants, who are misled into paying for courses at bogus colleges, which are nothing like the places that agents have described.

The British Council says agents have been caught passing off "two-room colleges as prestigious institutions".

Read More the latest BBC report here