UKBA: Preserving Border or Endangering Coffers?
Preserving the borders has been the responsibility of the UK Border agency but in so doing it has continuously come under criticisms from various groups in the UK.
The fight against bogus colleges and the methods used has been one fight that has cast the UKBA's effort into the spotlight
But is this the right thing? Are they the knights saving the UK from losing its identity or are they just a paranoid organisation?
The Visa Law
Figures taken from last year show that one in ten foreign students were sponsored by a bogus college.
 In a bid to counter this and crack down on economic migrants, the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) launched the highly trusted sponsor scheme on 6 April, with universities gaining interim status until a 30 June deadline where they had to apply to be full sponsors.
The scheme stipulated sponsors must ensure that no more than 3 percent of international students fail to complete their courses, and university staff will have to mount in-depth background checks on prospective students.
The not-so-highly rated scheme
Despite the UKBA’s confidence that the scheme would ease the bureaucratic burden on universities while preventing abuses of the immigration system, it has come under much attack from different quarters.
As far back as April, Universities UK, a higher education action group warned its 133 strong member universities not to apply for the scheme in its current form, after it was introduced without any formal consultation of institutions.
Their view was furthered by Lord Avebury who said in the House that the process by which the rules were changed was "fundamentally wrong and flawed".
He said: “Institutions do not like the way that these changes transfer the responsibility for immigration control from the UKBA to universities and colleges and impose severe penalties on them if they fail to carry it out.”
Spencer Fordham, director of Capital English School, a Bournemouth based language school also recently criticised the scheme saying: “The government needs to listen to the industry and the schools so that they can do things properly in the future.”
The government’s stance
Fighting bogus colleges and preserving national security has always been the government’s defence in this debate.
Before the scheme was rolled out, the government in February had already suspended student visas in India, Bangladesh and Nepal because of widespread abuse of the points based system and suggestions many of the students were believed to be bogus.
 Home Office figures show that last year alone 100,000 student visas were granted in the academic year to September 2009 – an increase of almost 40,000 on the previous 12 months. Most of these students were from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia and Nigeria.
Also prominent in the government’s supposedly ‘hasty’ decision were security concerns about terrorists who use bogus colleges and rogue agents to gain entry into the UK.
A British Council report revealed that four out of five UK universities use agents with other thousands of individual agents in this expanding business.
Amidst these agents some dishonest ones advertise courses as a route to migration and claim to guarantee success in admission tests.
Earlier in the year Lord West, former parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Home Office in defence of the new visa rules said: “Given concerns about the security of immigration control, it was decided that it was not appropriate to conduct a formal written consultation".
The Labour Party then after initiating the scheme said the visa reforms was to tackle the immigration abuse and reputational damage caused by bogus colleges and bogus students.
Britain’s reputation abroad
Bogus colleges may be causing reputational damage but in the quest to stop them, educational heads have warned that it is Britain’s reputation as a welcoming nation that might suffer.
A study by the UK Council for International Student Affairs found that the UK may start losing valuable overseas student due to the UK student visa process.
It found almost six out of ten international students applying for an extension to their UK visa did not think the application process was quick and efficient, and more than eight out of ten think the cost of a UK student visa is unreasonable.
Bournemouth based international student expert, Dr Lorraine Brown is also critical of the government’s policy and the vigorous screening processes involved with it.
She said: “It is unfair penalizing the students rather than the bogus schools. A lot of students are feeling bad that they are being scrutinized so rigorously. It makes them feel like they are not a good nationality.
Turkish students come to me and ask why England feels it is so great,” Dr Brown concluded.
 Tariq Palmer, spokesman for the Bournemouth Islamic Centre also weighs in the situation stating that since the US twin tower bombing on 11 September, 2001, it has been harder for students who have Islamic backgrounds to study in the UK.
“It is a hideous policy. Why make it difficult for students with Islamic origins come over to the UK to study and learn the beautiful English language that would be instrumental for them in the business world,” he queried the UKBA’s policy.
Attempts to get comments from the UKBA proved abortive as they refused to comment on Mr Palmer's claims.
The Financial Position
In 2007, a press release by the British Council labelled education as ‘The Great Invisible Export’ worth more to the economy than cars, food and finance.
It revealed that education contributed about £20 billion to the economy with international students contributing about £8.5 billion.
Martin Davidson, CEO of the British Council in response to the release back then said: “Fundamentally this report shows the shift of axis of our education system – from one that operates predominantly domestically to one that operates on a truly international basis.”
 Three years after this report, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills maintain that overseas students are worth £5.3bn in fees annually with another £2.5 billion in spending money.
Towns such as Bournemouth rely heavily on the pockets of international students with a plethora of language schools (second only to London in this regard) and the university.
Bournemouth Town Centre Manager Mr Roger Parker believes the economy of the town would suffer if the visa tightening policy is not reviewed and international students are kept out.
Mr Parker said: “Host families and the housing market rely on these students because they are a very important feature of our economy.”
With the recession, spending cuts and recent increase of VAT to 20%, education heads believe the timing of cutting out a sizable chunk of international students- one of the economy’s money earners couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Universities UK President Professor Steve Smith this month revealed that the increase in VAT to 20% will result in an extra tax burden for universities which could be in excess of £200 million per year. He predicted education funding could be reduced by as much as 25% in real terms by 2014-15.
A Stalemate
Many,even critics have conceded that the borders indeed need to be tightened but at what cost? Is the fight against bogus colleges,students and preserving national security worth billions of pounds that would be lost by income brought in by these students?
Just like a coin that has the same side, it seems this issue would always be balanced on a knife edge whatever angle you look at it.
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