An inquiry has appeared to dismiss claims that student visa abuse is taking place at London branch campuses
The Quality Assurance Agency had been asked
to examine student vetting procedures at 13 branch campuses after
immigration minister James Brokenshire said there was evidence of abuse
on many branch campuses.
Speaking in the House of Commons in June,
Mr Brokenshire said a Home Office investigation had found the “worst
abuse” of student visas was taking place in branch campuses within
London.
The investigation followed a BBC Panorama exposé
in February, which revealed systematic cheating in English language
tests provided by an organisation called the Educational Testing Service
(ETS).
Some 57 private colleges that had used ETS for their
language testing had their highly trusted status suspended in June,
while three universities were blocked from recruiting international
students.
All three have since been allowed to start recruiting
students, as have many affected colleges, though Glyndwr University was
told to close its London campus.
However, the report by the QAA
has now concluded that branch campuses do not present a major
opportunity for student visa fraud, stating that they are “well founded
and effectively managed”.
Following a review of 13 universities
based in other parts of the UK, but who operate at London campuses, the
QAA said they are “diligent in approval and validation processes, and
conscientious in their ongoing monitoring and review of programmes at
their London campuses”.
Student evaluations of the quality of
teaching were positive, though the level of student engagement is
stronger in some campuses than others, reviewers add, according to the
report, titled London Campuses of UK Universities: Overview report of a thematic enquiry by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, which was published on 17 December.
Several
potential areas of risk are identified, such as insufficient checks on
student entry qualifications and systems open to academic malpractice,
but reviewers state that universities are taking the right steps to
address them.
“Although establishing a London campus is not
straightforward, we found that universities are responding well to those
challenges and taking them very seriously,” said Anthony McClaran,
chief executive of the QAA.
“Our reviewers found that in general
universities had carefully considered their plans to set up and operate a
base in the capital, and the risks involved with setting up a London
campus,” he added.
The report found that more than 8,400 students were enrolled on a course at a London branch campus in 2013-14.
While
reviewers were generally positive about the branch campuses, they had
specific concerns about the expansion of student numbers at some
campuses, which had underestimated the cost and complexity of taking on
more students.
They also flagged concerns over agreements with
partner organisations who manage admissions, as well as the low rates of
progression and completion at some campuses.
Individual universities involved in the enquiry will now take steps to address any issues identified, the QAA said.
However,
despite the QAA’s conclusions, a Home Office spokeswoman said the
report had identified “serious discrepancies in the way universities run
their London campuses”.
“Some of these institutions have
established themselves in London solely to attract international
students and are not applying the same rules and criteria for admissions
or academic results as they do for the main university,” she said.
“Universities
must do more to ensure satellite campuses are admitting genuine, high
performing students — and to live up to the highly trusted sponsor
status they enjoy to bring in foreign students,” she added.
Institutions
who benefit from student migration “must work with us to prevent abuse
or risk losing their ability to recruit international students”, she
concluded.
Source: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/qaa-inquiry-says-london-campuses-not-ripe-for-visa-fraud/2017600.article
