The Pirate Schools: Game Over
In May,this column reported on the British Government’s new immigration regulations – the Points-Based System (PSB) – due to be implemented at the latest by 2009. It’s now clear that the Home Office is already taking action against the remaining ‘visa factories’ in the UK. Such places have been around for over 30 years,particularly from about 1990 onwards. Their speciality has always been to issue ‘Certificates of Enrolments’ for visa purposes to ‘students’ irrespective of whether they would attend class (or not). The ‘fee’ is often whatever cash the applicant has in his/her back pocket. Both the London ‘Evening Standard’ and the BBC have investigated and discovered that some of these ‘Schools’ have had far more students enrolled than could possibly fit into the available classrooms. Some run no classes at all,others have realised they have to provide (some) teachers and facilities to appear authentic.
More recently,the techniques have become more subtle. Elegant Prospectuses are produced adorned by the logos of reputable organisations and examination boards with which the School is supposedly linked. In 2004,the Home Office decided that two years would be the maximum period allowed for an English language course in the UK. After that the students have to move on to degree level or go home. This is not always
Academically logical: Many ‘Basic Beginners’ need much longer before they can progress as far as the IELTS grade which will make them eligible for acceptance by a UK university. The result has been,though,a significant increase in the number of degree courses (Business,Accountancy,Tourism,etc) being offered as an ‘external programme’ – but often without formal arrangements being made with the relevant university. For example,the University of London found that out of 350 student cases checked only 21 were officially registered with them. The Home Office are now closing this loophole.
All this has damaged the image of the UK private education sector. Most language schools are reputable – accredited by the British Council (or another recognised body) and if not,intend to apply. Genuine students have often enrolled at what they thought was a ‘proper’ School only to find later that it wasn’t. Others really would like to attend class regularly but feel they can’t because they need to work long hours just to survive. The UK – and London particularly – is an expensive place to live in. The Home Office permits non-EU students to work up to 20 hours per week. At the minimum wage (& sometimes less) this barely provides sufficient income,so many do considerable overtime and rely on their School to tell the Home Office they go to class even if they don’t.
Though perhaps understandable,this is illegal and now extremely inadvisable. The Home Office insist on at least 85% attendance. Anything below that requires a convincing explanation (such as ill health supported by medical documentation) otherwise the chances of a visa renewal are slim. They now ( a new development) have ‘compliance teams’ arriving at language schools unannounced to check attendance registers & the correlation between numbers enrolled and actually in class. Schools are being told to report students who ‘disappear’ for longer than two weeks (unless on a pre-arranged holiday). This will become mandatory after 2009. For the ‘pirates’,this is all bad news.
They either change their ways or ‘walk the plank’.