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1733 Student Visas<br />
6 JUNE 2013<br />
Student Visas<br />
1734<br />
[Jeremy Corbyn]<br />
sham. They lost out, and some of them were deported<br />
even though they had done nothing wrong. Behind<br />
every statistic lies a human story, and we should look at<br />
the human story as well as the overall statistics when we<br />
deal with these issues.<br />
The National Union of Students has pointed out in<br />
its advice on this debate that, following a perception study,<br />
40% of respondents to an NUS survey of 909 international<br />
students carried out last year said that they would not<br />
advise a friend or relative from their home country to<br />
come to the UK to study. We cannot afford that perception<br />
to be spread abroad. This debate is t<strong>here</strong>fore important,<br />
and the Minister’s response to it and the way in which<br />
he handles this issue are possibly even more important.<br />
It we want to remain a place to which students want to<br />
come, we will have to ensure that they are treated<br />
properly and that they are allowed to work at the end of<br />
their course, particularly if they pursued a semi-vocational<br />
or professional qualification. If they cannot complete a<br />
period of work at the end of their course, the prospect<br />
of studying <strong>here</strong> will be less attractive and the prospect<br />
of studying elsew<strong>here</strong> will become more so. The UK<br />
loses out as a result.<br />
As I said in a couple of interventions, I represent a<br />
constituency that includes London Metropolitan university,<br />
which has been put through the mill in media treatment<br />
and with funding problems like no other university in<br />
this country, so I would like to say a few things in its<br />
support. As a university, it is an amalgamation of many<br />
institutions, as most of them are, and it has given many<br />
people the huge opportunity to become the first in their<br />
family history to get into higher education. It has an<br />
unprecedented record of bringing in students from minority<br />
ethic communities and diverse backgrounds, and it should<br />
be applauded and complimented for that.<br />
Although the name is relatively new, London<br />
Metropolitan university is an amalgamation of a number<br />
of local institutions in north-east London that started<br />
serving the community in 1848. It is not exactly a<br />
Johnny-come-lately, although of course the situation<br />
has changed a great deal. Two things have happened.<br />
First, the Higher Education Funding Council for England<br />
decided some years ago to fine the university a great<br />
deal of money, but after a lot of representations, that<br />
money is now being repaid and the university is coping<br />
with that.<br />
Secondly, on 29 August last year, it had revoked its<br />
tier 4 licence and highly trusted status required to<br />
recruit non-European Economic Area students. That<br />
placed 2,000 international students at risk, including<br />
the current student union president and members of the<br />
student union executive. A survey done by the <strong>United</strong><br />
<strong>Kingdom</strong> Border Agency claimed that t<strong>here</strong> was a lack<br />
of attendance and monitoring, insufficient English language<br />
testing and overstaying of student visas. The students<br />
concerned were told that they had 60 days to find<br />
another institution or they would have to return to their<br />
own country. That resulted in a great deal of debate,<br />
including an urgent question in this Chamber and<br />
statements from the Government. The university sought<br />
High Court action against UKBA and was granted a<br />
hearing last September, when Mr Justice Irwin granted<br />
an order allowing all current international students to<br />
stay at the university until the end of the academic year<br />
2013; judicial reviews are still continuing.<br />
Since then, t<strong>here</strong> has been a great deal of discussion<br />
and negotiation between UKBA and the university, and<br />
procedures have been put in place. My concern was that<br />
a lot of wholly innocent international students were put<br />
under a great deal of stress and pressure. The university<br />
was not allowed to recruit international students for the<br />
forthcoming academic year, and that obviously has an<br />
impact on the local economy and on the university<br />
itself. I hope that the Minister can provide us with some<br />
hope—if not <strong>here</strong> today, perhaps by correspondence—that<br />
the negotiations will result in the revocation of the<br />
original ban on recruitment and that a number of<br />
overseas students can be recruited in the forthcoming<br />
academic year.<br />
I would be grateful if the Minister would answer<br />
some brief questions. A number of students who transferred<br />
to other institutions last September—nine months ago—still<br />
await a decision on their visa applications even though<br />
they were submitted in good time. Two additional cases,<br />
w<strong>here</strong> students who completed their studies in February<br />
2013 and put in applications for visa extensions, are still<br />
pending and have not been answered. That is a very<br />
long time to wait. In addition, t<strong>here</strong> are many students<br />
who are no longer in contact with the London Met<br />
university, yet the Home Office was supposed to establish<br />
a casework team in Sheffield to deal with applications<br />
from both current and former students of London Met.<br />
I would be grateful if the Minister would explain exactly<br />
what has happened about that; is the Home Office still<br />
in touch with those students?<br />
I want London Met to be a successful university. I<br />
want it to be able to recruit international students as it<br />
did before, and I want those students to benefit from the<br />
experience of living in north and east London while<br />
they are studying t<strong>here</strong>. I also want to highlight all that<br />
they bring to the university and all that they—and,<br />
indeed, the local economy—gain from it. The damage<br />
done to the international reputation of higher education<br />
by the handling of London Met is pretty serious indeed,<br />
on top of all the other problems that the Select Committee<br />
has rightly pointed out. I hope that the Minister will be<br />
able to tell me how many students have actually been<br />
removed from the country as a result of the decisions<br />
concerning London Met.<br />
The Home Office uses the words “probationary licence<br />
granted” for the restoration of tier 4 status, but t<strong>here</strong> is<br />
nothing in legislation that talks about probationary<br />
licences. An institution either has tier 4 status grade A<br />
or a most-trusted status, which we obviously hope will<br />
be restored. I do not know w<strong>here</strong> the word “probationary”<br />
comes from. Is a new point of law being introduced?<br />
Finally, will the Minister provide assurances that the<br />
20 London Met students who submitted passports nine<br />
months ago and who now wish to leave the country will<br />
receive an answer in the next 28 days? In all fairness,<br />
those students spent a great deal of money coming to<br />
this country, many of them are from poor families who<br />
scrimped and saved to send them <strong>here</strong>, and they had to<br />
go through a dreadful experience. We want to move on.<br />
We want international students back at the university<br />
and the university to be thriving and providing good-quality<br />
education. That is the message I want to give. Our local<br />
community benefits from that university, and it frequently<br />
benefits from the community when community events<br />
and many other things are held t<strong>here</strong>. We want it to be a<br />
good place of learning. Every colleague who represents