Home Office to crackdown on bogus colleges

Overseas students will need sponsored visas to prevent them using bogus colleges as a route into low paid jobs, if new Home Office proposals come into effect.

The plans would mean colleges having to prove they are genuine establishments, rather than being a gateway to the UK employment market.

Colleges would also have to provide feedback on students who do not turn up for classes, while the 240,000 non-EU students in the UK would have fingerprints taken and be issued with a biometric identity card.

In addition, courses involving work placement would have to ensure a minimum of 50% tuition time.

The proposals, which follow raids in June connected to allegedly bogus language colleges in London, are being heralded by the Home Office as the biggest upheavals to the immigration system in 45 years.

In a Home Office statement, Minister of State for Borders and Immigration Liam Byrne MP said overseas students were responsible for an injection of money into the economy, along with enriching the culture of institutions.

"So we want good students," said Mr Byrne. "But we want to shut down bogus colleges operating 'courses' which are really a means to low skilled employment."