The fact is that a foreigner who decides to study English in Great Britain can do so at a special language college. Upon completion of such an educational institution, a person does not receive any diploma or academic degree, however, when entering the country, he is entitled to a student visa valid for one year, which can be extended if desired.
There are about one and a half thousand such educational institutions in foggy Albion. Most of them are independent. Only 350 colleges had accreditation from the British Council and English UK, the largest association of English language teachers, and it was not at all obligatory to obtain it. Until recently, everything that happened within the walls of such schools was not controlled in any way.
And recently, the Home Office checked 1,200 language colleges and came to shocking conclusions: every fourth school is a banal cover for immigrants to enter the country. Last year, 294,000 foreigners who came from non-European Union countries received British student visas. No one can say exactly how many of them illegally remained in Great Britain.
The authorities tried to eliminate the criminal scheme and oblige schools to inform the Home Office about student attendance, and also said that they would not extend a student visa without providing attendance records. But even after this, violations did not stop. Many foreign students frankly admitted in conversations with journalists that the school administration takes money from them for obtaining a visa, and the rest is completely unimportant to them.
“This whole system is a farce. There are plenty of such schools in London alone,” says a Colombian who entered Britain on a student visa. “They turn a blind eye to the fact that you don’t attend classes. My girlfriend paid 400 pounds for courses and never once came to a lesson. The school doesn’t care.” “At the end of the year, the college offered a discount so that I would stay and pay them for another year. They also promised to fix the attendance records so that there would be no problems with the visa,” says a student who came from Mexico.
Desmond Mason, director of the independent Westover College in Bournemouth, said that the stories described by students are not uncommon. “People make money by trading in student visas. Some colleges even encourage students not to attend classes in order to enroll more students than they can accommodate in classrooms. The government, apparently, does not care. The register of the Department for Education and Qualifications includes many fraudulent schools, and the authorities have been repeatedly informed that they violate the rules,” says Mr. Mason.
In the UK, to get into the register of the Department of Education and Qualifications, an educational institution only needs to provide information about the premises where classes will be held. No one checks the quality of education. “Our register does not contain any information about educational standards,” says the press secretary of the Department of Education and Qualifications. “Its purpose is to verify the physical existence of an educational institution, which must operate in a real building at a real address.” “You can get into the register by spending only 300 to 500 pounds on company registration and other documents,” says Tony Millns, director of English UK. This association advocates the introduction of mandatory accreditation, which would also control the qualitative side of the educational process.
Currently, the Department of Education and Qualifications is compiling a list of genuine language colleges, for training in which embassies will provide visas in the future.
Andrey VETVINSKY.
Gzt.ru