New rules for studying in the UK
Updated on 09 April 2009
Referred to by the Home Office as "the biggest shake-up of the immigration system for 45 years", Channel 4 News takes a closer look at the new sponsor management system.
- Effective as of 31 March 2009
- Applies only to migrant students from outside Switzerland and the European Economic Area (EEA), excepting certain among the most recent entrants
- Academic institutions must apply to the UK Border Agency to accept international students
- Each applicant is vetted by UK Border Agency officers
- The institutions must then sponsor students
- Prior to arriving in the UK, students must:
- Have a track record in studying
- Demonstrate they have a place with a licensed education provider
- Prove they can financially support themselves
- Provide biometrics (fingerprints) to the UK Border Agency
- Education providers are responsible for reporting students who:
- Fail to enrol
- Miss 10 scheduled contacts or two weeks of a course
- Cease to attend
- Defer studies
- If students want to switch institutional sponsor, they are required to ask permission from the UK Border Agency
- More than 2,100 universities, independent schools and colleges have applied
- Around 460 institutions have been rejected
- Tuition fees from international students totalled £2.5bn in 2007
- The total number of student visas issued in 2007 was around 358,000. In 2006, an estimated 309,000 overseas students were admitted
- In 2007, 10,600 visas were issued to students from Pakistan. In 2006, that figure was 11,000
