University of Bedfordshire can resume overseas student recruitment

Source: Kriscollins

The University of Bedfordshire was forced to pause its acceptance of students from outside the European Union in June when immigration minister James Brokenshire announced a major crackdown on suspect English language qualifications used to gain entry to education institutions.

But the university has now been given a clean bill of health after a review by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), part of the Home Office.

However, the University of West London and Glyndwr University remain unable to recruit further international students as they have yet to hear back from the UKVI.

Some 57 private colleges, along with Glyndwr, had their licences to recruit international students suspended amid allegations about systematic abuse in the English language tests taken by students to obtain visas.

Bedfordshire and West London did not have their licences suspended, but were told they could not issue any further Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) letters until detailed audits of their visa management procedures had been completed.

This meant the universities were no longer able to sponsor any further international students.

Bedfordshire had now been informed by UKVI that it can continue to recruit overseas students after its procedures for monitoring visas were approved.

West London and Glyndwr have yet to hear from the UKVI about the outcome of their audits.

Bill Rammell, Bedfordshire’s vice-chancellor, said he was “delighted” by the decision announced on 7 August.

“I was always confident that our procedures for monitoring international students were robust, and I’m pleased that UKVI’s thorough and detailed audit has confirmed this,” said Mr Rammell.

“We take our immigration compliance responsibilities extremely seriously,” he said, adding that the university had fully cooperated with UKVI throughout the audit.

“We recruit large numbers of international students because of our excellent student experience and graduate employability success. We can now provide more opportunities such as this,” he continued.

jack.grove@tsleducation.com