‘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

‘IELTS’ set to lose 'monopoly' in Australia

The Australian government is considering accepting other
exams for assessment of would-be immigrants' English language skills
Australia's new arrivals could have a more than one test of English to opt for .
The rival exams like TOEFL are considered as important alternatives for testing english skills.
The Australian newspaper quoted an immigration and citizenship department spokesman as saying that the minister in charge, Chris Evans, had written to ETS, the US company that produces Toefl, and other test providers to tell them of "his in-principal support for the acceptance of more than one English language test under the migration regulations".
In 2008 immigration officials launched a review of the Ielts monopoly by inviting other test providers to make their case for recognition.
The new Skilled Occupation List has been compiled by Skills Australia, an independent body established by the government to assess workforce needs. "This list is designed to target occupations of longer-term economic value and will deliver highly skilled migrants while breaking the nexus between permanent residency and low-value education courses," Evans said.

Courtesy guardian.co.uk

Elite universities ponder over 'bond issues' to raise funds

The UK's elite universities are considering proposals that would allow them to raise potentially hundreds of millions of pounds on the financial markets by issuing bonds . 

Selling the bonds – long-term debts issued by companies – would enable them to reduce their deficits and dependency on the taxpayer. A university would have to pay back, with interest, the amount it borrows – likely to be £100m or more – on a specific date in say 30 or even 50 years time. 

The Russell Group of 20 leading universities including Oxford and Cambridge state that, at present, the state does not provide sufficient funds to cover the cost of teaching undergraduates and universities are left with a shortfall. It says institutions that raised cash in this way would be far less dependent on taxpayers' money. A group of universities would allow a large bond issue, capable of attracting "major investors", it said. The bonds could even be marketed to alumni, who might be encouraged to buy them at lower than market rates. 

The Russell Group made the argument for issuing bonds in its submission to a cross-party review on university funding and tuition fees led by Lord Browne, the former BP chief executive. The review will report in the autumn. 

Fram Dinshaw, finance bursar at St Catherine's College, Oxford University, said this would be a good idea, if the loan was "properly structured", because it would be "a way out of the dependency on state funds". 

In January this year, it was revealed that Cambridge University was planning to raise up to £400m from its first bond issue. Ivy League universities in the US, such as Harvard and Princeton, have issued bonds for several years. 

One problem which may arise is that bond markets are inflexible and can make it impossible to pay back the debt early. 

courtesy Guardian.co.uk

Regulations to set 'Standards' of Universities in UK

Students have a right to expect contact time with lecturers and reasonable class sizes, says vice- chancellor 

Universities would face financial penalties if their lecturers teach for only a few hours a week, or class sizes exceed an acceptable limit as it appears in the future. Professor Paul Wellings, chair of the 1994 Group of 19 small research-intensive universities, recommended all students be given minimum expectations of contact hours with lecturers, class sizes and feedback. Wellings, the vice-chancellor of Lancaster University, was giving evidence to a cross-party review into tuition fees, led by the former BP chief executive Lord Browne. The review will report this autumn. Wellings said the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the organisation that gives public funds to universities, should issue penalties if institutions fail to live up to students' expectations will be chaged.

courtesy guardian.co.uk

Kampus Landing opens HEADQUARTERS in the financial hub of the UK at Canary Wharf, London

In close co-operation with its domestic and international client institutions Kampus Landing is committed to a continuous development of new learning resources leading to an effective, efficient, and enjoyable Learning Experience for all its students regardless of the type or location of their chosen study venue.

In that context, Our Chairman, Mr. Ismo M Kuhanen is pleased to introduce you to Kampus Landing’s new ‘family’ member, Finntrack, which is based in the UK and specializes in the development, design and distribution of business, management and IT related programmes, courses, learner support and staff development units, teaching and learning guides and contents for universities, business schools, colleges, corporations , professional and vocational training and development centres throughout the world, by:

Designing of customised and customisable business, management, and IT related curriculum of programmes, courses and modules to meet the standards required by the British QAA and the recognised international accreditation bodies. See the QAA Subject Benchmark Statements onhttp://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/default.asp

Identifying potential partner institutions, then brokering and facilitating transnational collaboration.

Assisting client institutions in obtaining accreditation with American, British, or other European universities or awarding bodies for dual awards.

Designing quality assurance processes and resources and train teaching staff to follow them.

Attracting and recruiting students for both, classroom and distance learning programmes offered by client institutions in almost anywhere in the world.

Providing online Learning Content Management Systems able to enrol and manage in-class or distance learning module contents for both tutors and learners.