Hundreds Of Indian Students Stranded As UK Cancels University Licence

So many Indians apply to study at London Metropolitan that a few years ago the university opened recruitment offices in Delhi and Chennai.

But on Thursday those offices were effectively dead. In the Delhi tower block where the university had an outpost as recently as July 31, a financial consulting firm had stuck a print-out of its own logo over the Met's, and the university's letterbox in the basement was overflowing.

Across the hallway, Puneet Soin — who manages the Indian office of Study In UK (SIUK), a commercial firm that helps students win places at British universities — said he was shocked by the UK Border Agency's decision to revoke London Met's Highly Trusted Sponsor status. "If they can take away London Met's licence, they can take away any other university's licence," he said. His staff had been fielding calls from anxious Indian students worried they could be deported from Britain, or not get beyond passport control at Heathrow.

The decision, announced on August 29–30, 2012, left over 2,000 international students facing potential deportation. The UKBA said the university had "failed to address serious and systemic failings" identified six months earlier: over a quarter of sampled students had no leave to remain, a significant proportion lacked proper evidence of mandatory English levels, and the university could not say whether students were attending classes or using visas as a route to work in the UK.

The students — around 2,600 non-EU internationals — were given 60 days to find another sponsoring institution or leave the country. The government set up a task force to help genuine students transfer; universities minister David Willetts promised "prompt advice and help" for those affected through no fault of their own. NUS president Liam Burns called the move "heavy-handed," warning of "panic and potential heartbreak."

The damage to Britain's education brand was immediate. Foreign students brought an estimated £12.5 billion a year into the UK economy, and universities warned that the message reaching the world was that the UK deports its foreign students. London Met's vice-chancellor, Malcolm Gillies, called the implications "hugely significant and far-reaching" and the university took legal action — its licence was restored the following April after inspections found improved processes.

For the Indian students caught in the middle, though, the lesson was simpler: a university offer is only as solid as its sponsor licence — and families paying tens of thousands of pounds had no way to check that themselves.