Lesson in unfairness for foreign students

YOUR report suggesting that 450 colleges have been banned from receiving foreign students implies that these colleges have been “bogus” and that the Government has somehow exposed them (Yorkshire Post, November 2).

This is far from being the case. Certainly some of the 450 were bogus, and the genuine colleges have long been concerned that these have cast an unwarranted shadow on them, but the vast majority have themselves decided to close because the Government’s draconian restrictions on potential students have stopped them applying to the colleges that cater for students on below degree level courses.

Being prevented from part-time work, from bringing dependents with them and being made to return to their home country even to apply for a follow-on course means that it is no longer feasible for them to come to Britain

Ironically those colleges that do not function legitimately, and which undermine the work of legitimate establishments, are already devising ways of circumventing the draconian regulations, at the expense of those who have functioned genuinely for years.

Currently there are some 600,000 such students in the UK, bringing approximately £2bn into the economy, in addition to their maintenance expenditure.

If these students have to seek their further education elsewhere, an even greater cost will be the loss of goodwill towards the UK in their countries of origin, gained through their stay in the UK.

Rather than hitting the individual student, it would be far more logical for the Government to set out a series of objective tests for colleges that will guarantee their legitimacy.