‘Misplaced’ clampdown on overseas students is devastating private higher education colleges, CentreForum has warned.
The report titled “Tier 4 tears: how government student visa controls are destroying the private HE sector” by Centre Forum shows that government’s aim to increase the number of private colleges, risks being overcome by an over-enthusiastic Home Office attack on immigration.
The think tank has called for the reversal of student visa controls which prohibit international students enrolled on HE courses at private colleges from working part time to support their studies.
Since these controls were introduced in 2011, enrolment numbers are estimated to have dropped by around 70 percent. One private institution, Cavendish College London, has already closed, while others face being taken over by public universities.
CentreForum had previously warned government about the adverse impact of the Tier 4 student visa reforms.
The impact of the new rule has been “swift and probably even more devastating than was predicted,” CentreForum said.
Chris Nicholson, CentreForum’s chief executive who wrote the report, said: “The student visa controls make a mockery of the government’s aim to promote greater diversity in higher education. The private sector is being critically undermined.”
Dr. John Sanders, who was principal of Cavendish College until its closure, commented: “After 26 years in the business of education, offering a wide range of diploma and degree programmes to a diverse range of international students, I find it incredible that the UKBA considers the likes of Cavendish College to be a threat to immigration control.”
Dr. Sanders said the new rule had led to “an enormous disparity in the treatment of international students in the private sector compared with those in public colleges and universities.”
“The government clearly does not care how it reaches its net migration target,” he added.
Apart from asking the government to give Tier 4 visa applicants on HE courses at private colleges the same working rights as those studying at public universities, the report said international students should be treated as temporary visitors rather than permanent migrants. They should be excluded from the government’s net migration figures, the report said.
