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New rules for Colleges who teach overseas students

DEPARTMENT FOR INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS News Release (2007/DIUS) issued by The Government News Network on 24 July 2007

Any college recruiting students from abroad will in future need to be registered on a new Home Office Sponsors' Register. To qualify for the register they will have to show they have been accredited by an approved body. This will demonstrate that they are a genuine education provider and prevent any acting as a front for the entry of bogus students or illegal immigrants to the country. The new rules are part of Britain's new Points Based System (PBS) for managing migration.

Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education Bill Rammell said:

"The Government welcomes the many genuine international students who come to study in the UK each year. But a minority of less reputable colleges in this country work with people overseas helping them to get round the immigration rules and enter the UK to work illegally. That is why new rules for colleges who teach overseas students have today been announced.

"Unaccredited institutions should seek accreditation with one of the approved accreditation bodies as soon as possible. These improvements will mean we are better equipped to protect the UK against those individuals and colleges who want to misuse the student route of entry to this country. We are also able to offer international students the assurance that they are applying to trustworthy and good quality learning institutions in the UK. This will further enhance the reputation of UK education abroad.

"Under the Points Based System, education providers will act as the sponsors of their international students and will not be able to bring international students to the UK unless they are on the PBS Sponsor Register. Requiring educational institutions to be accredited before they can qualify for the Register means that UK Visas staff will be able to trust the decisions of those establishments in offering places to potential students with the result that the visa issuing process will become much quicker."

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne, said:

"We are already cracking down on bogus colleges and schools and 69 have already been stripped of their right to take foreign students since 2005, but today's announcement is the next step.

"Abuse of our education system will not be tolerated. The sponsor register, along with an extra £100 million of investment to double our enforcement capability, will help us do this.

"Foreign students bring in a huge £5 billion a year. But migration has to support Britain's national interests.

"Our new Australian-style points-based system will be simpler, clearer and easier to enforce. Crucially, it will give us the best way of letting in only those people who have something to offer Britain."

The announcement comes as The Border & Immigration Agency, working with Ofsted, announce the organisations they have approved to inspect and accredit educational institutions so that they can qualify for the sponsor register

Many private education providers already have existing accreditation with one of these bodies which, if valid at the date of application and continues to be valid at the time the new student route is introduced, may be used to obtain registration.

Notes to editors:
1. The following accreditation bodies have been approved to accredit private educational institutions before they can apply to register on the Home Office's PBS Sponsor Register:

- Accreditation UK - which offers an accreditation service for English language centres;
- The British Accreditation Council (BAC) which offers a more general accreditation service to cover a wide range of different educational establishments and their courses; and
- The Accreditation Service for International Colleges (ASIC) which also accredit a wide range of different educational establishments and their courses.

2. The sponsor register is expected to open for registrations at the beginning of 2008. It will cover both employers bringing migrant workers to the UK (Tier 2) and educational establishments bringing international students to this country (Tier 4). The Points Based System will be rolled out in stages:
- Tier 1 of the system, which caters for highly skilled migrants such as scientists and entrepreneurs, will be launched at the beginning of 2008;
- Tier 2, targeting skilled workers with a job offer and Tier 5, for youth mobility and temporary workers, will come on line in the third quarter of 2008; and
- Tier 4, for students, will follow at the beginning of 2009.

3. Key elements of PBS include:
- consolidating more than 80 existing work and study routes into five tiers:
- tier 1 - highly skilled, e.g. scientists or entrepreneurs;
- tier 2 - skilled workers with a job offer, e.g. nurses, teachers, engineers;
- tier 3 - low skilled workers filling specific temporary labour shortages, e.g. construction workers for a particular project
- tier 4 - students; and
- tier 5 - youth mobility and temporary workers, e.g. working holiday makers or musicians coming to play a concert.

4. The requirement for accreditation will only apply to private institutions, outside the system of public reviews conducted by Ofsted and its devolved equivalents; the former Adult Learning Inspectorate; and Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). The Government accepts that publicly funded institutions and private schools providing education to children up to 18 years old are already regularly reviewed and so it is not the intention that the accreditation requirement should create any additional burden for these education providers. A limited concession to the accreditation requirement has also been agreed for very low risk overseas HEIs offering only part of their programmes in the UK.

5. Any college recruiting students from abroad will need to be registered from 2009 on the new Home Office Sponsors' Register.