Foreign students in high court bid to complete their UK courses

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jul/08/foreign-students-high-court-complete-uk-courses

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The London campus of Glyndwr University is promoted on its website with a golden-hued picture of Tower Bridge and City Hall. "Experience London," it says. But the reality is somewhat different.

Take a left out of Elephant and Castle tube station, negotiate a complicated traffic intersection via a warren of underpasses, pick your way through a bustling if slightly chaotic street market and you may just find it. The "campus" is, in fact, on the eighth floor of a grim 1960s office block above a shopping centre.

A large group of overseas students are appealing for the right to remain in these unglamorous surroundings after the Welsh university withdrew its sponsorship of their UK study visas. Some of them will take their cases to the high court this summer.

They appear to have been caught up in the fallout from a failed deal between the university and a private college, the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF). Both have recently had their right to sponsor overseas students suspended by the Home Office – though current students are not affected. LSBF was also at the centre of a recent Guardian investigation into its teaching standards.

Under the deal, the students were initially recruited and taught by LSBF in central London, with their UK visas sponsored by Glyndwr. This year they were suddenly told they would be moving to Elephant and Castle, and then – just a few days later – more than 100 were told they would have to go home.

"I studied for an MBA back home, in a third-world country," says Kamrunnaher Ritu, from Bangladesh. "And now I'm feeling really proud that in my country education is much better than this. As international students here we are victims. They can do anything they want with us."

The students' tale begins back in the spring of 2013, when LSBF advertised an accountancy qualification – a two-year full-time course certified by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Cima.

Successful applicants, many of whom already had degrees or postgraduate qualifications from British universities and who wanted a recognised professional qualification, were given official letters – to be passed to the Home Office with their visa applications. The letters said they were students at Glyndwr's Elephant and Castle base.

Most of the group who enrolled in the spring of 2013 were happy with the quality of the course at LSBF. There were some minor issues because the electronic machines which recorded their attendance were not always working, but for the most part they felt their studies were progressing well.

Then this January, after a long Christmas break, the university sent letters to a large number of students – exactly how many is not clear but their solicitor says he has heard from more than 100 – saying they were being withdrawn from the programme. The reasons given were that their attendance was below 80%, or they had not enrolled for a sufficient number of courses.

The news came as a shock, and many of the students disputed the university's claim that they had not fulfilled the requirements of the course.

Ritu was told she was being expelled because of her attendance, but she says on some days she was present the college's electronic swipe machines were not working properly. She adds that she has provided medical evidence to show she missed some classes because of a bad back.

Along with her fellow students she had already paid her full £8,500 fee for the two-year course before being withdrawn from it. "We are not a money tree," she says. "They can't just shake us to make money come out. We've spent a lot on this and we just think the way we've been treated is totally unfair."

The reason for the university's decision to move the students from LSBF to its own premises at Elephant and Castle is not entirely clear. The university says it had Home Office approval for its arrangements, but it does seem there had been some official concerns: one student, Sharour Jahan Sohel, also from Bangladesh, was refused a visa by the Home Office on the grounds that he was not based at the address of his sponsor, Glyndwr.

"I don't know what's going on between LSBF and Glyndwr and I don't need to know," he says. "I just want to finish my studies and go home. That's my plan."

Sohel, who has a degree from the University of Gloucestershire and who started an MBA course before deciding to study for a Cima qualification instead, was exempted from parts of the course because of his previous study. Yet the university has now told him it is not convinced of his ability to complete its course, and has withdrawn his sponsorship. Like Ritu, he is launching a high court action to challenge the decision.

These students will have to convince a judge that their attendance has been satisfactory and that they intend to complete the course. But one other student who has begun a separate legal action had not even started the course before her right to study was withdrawn.

Afaf Saeed, from Pakistan, is a qualified doctor who wanted to take an accountancy qualification because she hopes to help manage the private hospital owned by her family. Her father is an eye specialist and many of her relatives are doctors. She applied last spring but the college agreed to defer her entry until the autumn so she could complete her first year as a junior doctor in Pakistan.

"When I arrived in November I was told it was holiday time, so I should come in January," she says. "Then in the meantime I had a letter from Glyndwr saying they were withdrawing me as I didn't have enough attendance and I hadn't taken enough courses."

The university has now offered to reinstate Saeed, but she has already started taking the course part-time at a different college and wants Glyndwr to refund her £8,500 course fees plus legal costs of around £2,000.

Fifty-six of her fellow students have already been to the high court. They applied in February for leave to go to a judicial review, and although not all were successful a group of around 20 now plan to do so. The university has reviewed their cases in recent months but many have again been told to leave.

The judge in the case, Mr Justice Blake, noted that the university's handbook promised staff would contact students if there were any concerns over their attendance or performance. Even if they had fallen below required standards it still had a duty of care towards them, he said.

"It is not enough, in my judgment, for a university simply to direct the student to the small print in the contract, wash its hands and walk away," he said.

Both Glyndwr University and LSBF have had difficult times lately. Last month the Home Office said it had suspended their right to sponsor new overseas students, along with two other universities and 56 other colleges. Its investigation centred on an alleged fraud at a separate English language testing organisation, but most of the Cima students were not required to take the test as they had already studied on courses taught in English.

The students' solicitor, Syed Ahmed, says he thinks that although they were not involved in this investigation, questions from the Home Office may have led indirectly to the withdrawal of their visas.

"When the Home Office became aware of the arrangement between Glyndwr University and LSBF, that was the starting point," he says. "As a result I think Glyndwr tried to streamline things.

"They say they are just following procedures to ensure fairness, but they are washing their hands of these students. They are saying the students don't have the ability and intention to study but it was the university's duty to ensure that before they issued acceptance letters to them."

Glyndwr University said in a statement that it was reasonable for it to monitor students' attendance and performance, and to withdraw sponsorship if necessary. "The university is mindful of its duty under public law to act fairly and has therefore investigated each student's circumstances and considered in full all information provided by each student at each relevant stage of its review," it said.  

LSBF said that while there might have been some occasional errors in its electronic monitoring of students' attendance, systems were in place to ensure they were rectified.

Those students who are still being allowed to attend classes have been sitting exams, and many say it has been hard to focus with the threat of deportation hanging over them. They feel frustrated and say no one seems to be listening to them.

"They are saying they're giving us a chance and looking at our cases," says Ritu. "But it feels as if the decision was already made, and there's nothing we can do."