‘Bogus students problem’ persists even today

As the US, UK and Australia compete for international students, fears of bogus applicants abusing visa systems persist, but recent research suggests fraud risk levels could be low.

The owner of the Florida Language Institute and one employee pleaded guilty last week to charges of making false visa applications on behalf of students applying to study English at their school.

The school, in the suburbs of Miami, was raided in March following a 12-month surveillance operation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As well as the arrest of the two defendants and seizures of $2.4m in assets, 81 students from 12 countries were also detained in the Miami area.

The defendants are alleged to have failed to report that the majority of the school's students did not attend classes regularly.

Cases involving suspected visa abuses linked to education and the threat posed by allegedly bogus students grab headlines in other countries. The US, Britain and Australia compete to attract students travelling abroad for study – numbers that, according to OECD estimates, exceeded 3 million in 2007. Institutions must be seen to be safeguarding both their national security and the reputation of their education sectors.

The first line of defence against bogus applications is the application process itself. In the US last year, more than a third of the 490,000 student visa applications made were turned down. The UK rejected a similar proportion of the 350,000 requests it received. Yet only Australia has published a detailed analysis of why students are being refused visas, and by doing so, it has shone a light on the scale and impact of student visa fraud.

The evidence from Australia is that fraud is limited and that the detection and prevention procedures currently used by the department of immigration and citizenship (Diac), which are similar to those used by the US and UK, are fit for purpose.

Countries targeted for scrutiny include India, Mauritius, Nepal, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Pakistan. China, where only government registered agents are allowed to dispatch students and which sent 18% of Australia's 2008 total, was held up by Diac as a model for other countries.

The UK is also keen to improve the quality of agents, who are responsible for placing one in five foreign students. A British Council-led initiative has brought together representatives from the main countries offering English language courses to work on co-ordinating policies.

However, a categorical assessment of the risk posed by student visa fraud will require greater transparency from immigration authorities. Otherwise it is not possible to erase these problems completely.

Courtesy guardian.co.uk

Lecturers may go for 'Strike' in UK

Tens of thousands of university students could have their final year exams and graduation ceremonies disrupted this summer after lecturers warned they may strike over job losses. 

The University and College Union (UCU) which represents lecturers may go for industrial action to oppose at least 14,000 job cuts on campuses across the UK. This could coincide with final exams in June and graduations later on in the year. Sally Hunt, the UCU's general secretary, speaking at the union's annual conference in Manchester, warned that if discussions about redundancies broke down, there could be a national strike. 

There have been at least 15 strikes over job losses at universities since March. Higher education institutions are grappling with cuts of £1.2bn between now and 2013. These include £200m that was slashed from their budgets last week. In March, more than three-quarters of universities in England were told they would have their budgets cut for this September – some by nearly 14%, prompting warnings of larger class sizes, further job cuts and a deterioration in the quality of courses. 

The UCU's representatives on campuses were reporting new redundancies each day, 

Hunt said she wondered how long "this will remain a local action", adding: "Soon our members will want us to take this to a national level and make a national response too." 

Academics at Westminster University have said they will not mark essays and exams in protest over plans to cut 50 posts. A university spokesman said it was taking "every reasonable measure to minimise the impact" on students. 

Meanwhile, academics today accused the government of forcing them to spy on international students. They claim new visa rules, under which academics must report an overseas student who fails to enrol, miss lectures or drops out of a course, are against academic freedom. The rules were devised so officials could keep track of the whereabouts of international students. 

Lecturers called for the union to put up a legal challenge to the points-based immigration scheme. They said they would be prepared to appeal to the European court of human rights if necessary. 

Courtesy guardian.co.uk