UK universities halt, suspend admissions of Bangladeshi and Pakistani students
Several universities in the United Kingdom (UK) have begun cancelling and suspending admission applications from Bangladeshi and Pakistani students.
According to the UK-based newspaper The Financial Times, universities have taken these steps amid concerns over visa misuse following the tightening of the country’s immigration policies.
At least nine higher education institutions in the UK have imposed restrictions on admitting students from “high-risk” countries. Universities are under increasing pressure to ensure that they recruit genuine students only.
The UK’s Minister for Border Security, Dame Angela Eagle, recently warned that the visa system must not be used as a “back door” to settlement in Britain, after a sharp rise in asylum claims from international students.
Among the universities introducing such changes is the University of Chester, which has suspended all admissions from Pakistan until the autumn term next year, citing a recent unexpected rise in visa refusals.
The University of Wolverhampton is no longer accepting undergraduate applications from Pakistan and Bangladesh. The University of East London has also suspended admissions from Pakistan.
In addition, several institutions, including London Metropolitan University, the University of Sunderland, Oxford Brookes University and BPP University, are taking similar measures regarding Bangladeshi and Pakistani students.
In some cases, no explicit ban has been issued, but in practice students are not receiving Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) letters, or applications are simply not being accepted at all.
The University of Sunderland and Coventry University have suspended applications from Bangladesh and Pakistan. The University of Hertfordshire has halted admissions from both countries until September next year.
London Metropolitan University has confirmed that it has stopped accepting students from Bangladesh, noting that 60 per cent of its refused visa applications came from Bangladeshi applicants.
At the heart of these changes is the new visa compliance policy of the UK Home Office, which came into effect last September. To sponsor international student visas, universities must pass an annual assessment known as the Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA).
This assessment looks at three indicators: the student visa refusal rate, the rate of students who do not enrol after arriving in the UK, and the rate of students who drop out mid-course.
Under the new rules, if more than five per cent of an institution’s student visa applications are refused, it may face downgrading of its sponsor licence, suspension of admissions, or even licence revocation.
Previously, the threshold for such measures was a ten per cent refusal rate. As a result, universities are now more cautious than ever in selecting students.
According to the Financial Times, as of September this year, visa refusal rates for Bangladeshi and Pakistani applicants stood at 22 per cent and 18 per cent respectively—well above the new limit.
Of the 23,036 visa applications refused by the Home Office during this period, half were from Bangladeshi and Pakistani students. In addition, asylum claims by citizens of Bangladesh and Pakistan have also risen, with most applicants having originally entered the UK on work or student visas.
Maryam Abbas, founder of Lahore-based ‘Advance Advisors', which assists Pakistani students with overseas study, said the universities’ decisions are heartbreaking for genuine students whose applications are being blocked at the final stage.
Md Mustafizur Rahman, senior consultant at Global Admission, a UK-based organisation supporting international students, told Prothom Alo that although hundreds of UK universities accept international applications, around five to seven universities have recently stopped taking applications from Bangladeshi students.
One major reason, he said, is that some Bangladeshi students misuse the student visa route by applying for asylum before completing their programmes, switching to other visa categories, or moving to Europe. Mustafizur Rahman added that Bangladeshi students should make a proper use of UK student visa instead of misusing it as a transit route.