I believe everybody knows the current situation regarding the suspensions. There is nothing much we can comment about it until we know what the UKBA exactly wants to do.
Initially the submission was due to the non submission or the BAC Inspection Report for our new campus to the UKBA, but when the BAC has submitted it to them immediately, they have been asking for additional information whenever their deadline of 14/28 days approaches, and delaying the decision on reinstatement. We believe it is more to do with the clarity about policy rather than the colleges not playing the game rightly.
To blame the colleges for illegal immigrants is nonsence, as most of the terrorists or illegal immigrants have used the safer routes of Universities, rather than colleges. We have hardly seen any ‘No Show’ students (may be 2 out of 1000). All our students are genuine and are serious about their studies and are attending classes. We have one of the best facilities in the private sector, for which even our students would vouch for.
The UKBA should have foreseen high volumes before they could implement the PBS, but they have failed in implementing the policy in the right way.
Kind Regards
Vikram
What is the status of new London college. Have been told they ave there licence back from UKBA so why are they not back. The UKBA register? I also heard that they have been involved in an illegal scam! I’m a student there and really pissed off with the situation not knowing if this college is just going to close down or what , what’s the future for nlc
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he will not refund your money i cleared you. because my brother is in uk and he was studying in that college since last year. they didnt return a single penny she paid 4000 pounds for 2 years and first year fees was 2500 and 2nd year fees they didnt give back and his visa is only upto this november .
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We are an agent working with the NLC and they have refunded the entire course fee for our students who had been refused entry clearance based on the colleges’ suspension.
However, there has been one problem, they have not refunded the fees of students who have had their visas from the BHC, but did not travel as the NLC was suspended.
So, I would like to humbly request Mr. Vikram about this situation and do the necessary actions to refund the fees.
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Hi Bikesh,
My brother also apply for AA Hamilton they have deduct £500 from us as well. I am planning to sue the college. I have found 18 more student who have apply and been rip off by this college.
I think Zubair Amehd is pricapal mr con man who had close two more college and before.base on Shepherd’s Bush
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AAHamilton been deducting £500 pounds form student from refund. Although their college been supended from UKBA.for more than 5month Why they punnishing us.for withdraw the our application.
some of my friend got visa refuse due to college not in UKBA list.They also been charge £500 by college.
This college is really know how to get money from student.can anyone help me to reclaim my money back. I heard they have decducted more than 1200 studedent money.
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well, as an overseas student i individually commit that new london college is a desirable college which acquires all infrastructures and learning objectives. Though ,time has made it bounded to all the students and entire administration family for the optimum mobilisation of the resources…………SO,its only the word of mouth about the college being called and wrongly rated. Many pray and wishes ……..Wake up nlc!!!
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Hi Daniel,
Recently there’s buzz that the sponsorship licence of New London College has been revoked by Home office. Do you have any update?
If that’s the case will there be any problem for overseas students to go for legal process to claim their refunds???
Looking forward…….thanks
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what about the new london college?this college is now black listed?
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Mr Khan, it is good to think and speak for the institution where you are studying. I can understand your situation and worry about the college. Wish your wish comes true…… but it seems that you are totally turning blind eyes to inappropriate and immoral business strategies that the college still is adopting. You can find many students who attend the college regularly but were sent warning letter quoting that they’ve been suspended due to thier attendance, many students are asked to pay for full course fee who already have paid their first year fee and are yet due to finish their first year, and there are many cases the college has not been refunding the fees of students whose visa applicaiton have been refused……….. You can also find the administration responding different students in different ways for the same issue. You personally may not have experienced that but if you are awake then you will find many of your college-mates who are suffering.
It is good to try to improve every aspects of the school but at the mean time the real of motive of college also should not only be collecting money but also to act lawfully and morally.
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Mr Khan, it is good to think and speak for the institution where you are studying. I can understand your situation and worry about the college. Wish your wish comes true…… but it seems that you are totally turning blind eyes to inappropriate and immoral business strategies that the college still is adopting. You can find many students who attend the college regularly but were sent warning letter quoting that they’ve been suspended due to thier attendance, many students are asked to pay for full course fee who already have paid their first year fee and are yet due to finish their first year, and there are many cases the college has not been refunding the fees of students whose visa applicaiton have been refused……….. You can also find the administration responding different students in different ways for the same issue. You personally may not have experienced that but if you are awake then you will find many of your college-mates who are
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I dont think i should talk here as i dont have enough experience, but as a Student of New London College, i just want to tell you guys that our college is extreamly good, its not a 2 room college , it is an actuall college, our Teachers are extreamly superb and fully trained, And About the lanuage course, when i was taking addmission in this college i was asked to show minimum 6.0 Bands in IELTS. So here i dont think my principal needs to give anymore explaination to anyone as whatever he said was 100 % correct. and UKBA should issue them their licence back !
cheers !
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thanks your responce,
Dear sir i’m still in uk and regularlly studing in this college. And my visa status is student from south asia. And i arrived in jan 16th 2010. i applied in this college oct 12th 2009, but that day college not suspended.
so, i hope sir i have get good responce as soon as from u …………….
HARDIP(name change)
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dear colz principal
I’m a student of this college. I don’t know, what the wrong going on college. i payed all of course fee and i have no due. i payed around £5500 before a month. Now i think, i can’t get that money from college. I think college doesn’t refund my money. i’m a international student and i’m struggling to get degree in london but unfortunally my dreams is gona sit. Plz sir try to understand and give suggest i can’t hold ur college now and i need to change other college for better education. This is my future and u have no permit to play our future……..So plz dear sir how can i refund my money…………..PLZ PLZ PLZ give me a suggest
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Hi Hardip
Are you already in the UK and studying with this college? Were you granted leave to remain (a student visa) for this college and travelled here before their licence suspension? Please provide some further details on your situation.
If you already in the UK under this college’s sponsorship they are obligated to teach you and carry out all associated duties of a sponsor.
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hi
Daniel
can you please tell me about rims college wat goin on
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These recent media exposures of misbehaving colleges are just shutting the stable door after the horse has run away with the money. Everyone in further education has known for years about the scams, and that the Home Office is not “fit for purpose”, and that Tier 4 of the Points-Based System is fundamentally ill-conceived. In my own college’s experience, the UKBA has shown very little sign of real intelligence. In its actions it resembles a wounded animal more than a logical arm of government. Politicians and civil servants have not grasped the old military maxim that no plan survives contact with the enemy. The recent licence suspension of 100 honest colleges, in order to deal with a few dishonest ones, has been counter-productive, because it vindicates the commercial judgment of the get-rich-quick merchants over that of serious teaching institutions. I confidently predict that any attempt to bring in a requirement for higher standards of English before entry to the UK will collapse in a heap because of multiple unintended consequences.
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Thanks for your comments, nice to read your view.
Why do you think the PBS is ill-conceived? I think it’s far better than what we had before; many genuine students could not pass the intention test and were therefore wrongfully refused a visa to study in the UK. Under the old system, an applicant could be refused for putting their nationality as Nigeria instead of Nigerian (a real example). The PBS stops this nonsense.
I do agree with you that the UK Border Agency has failed to consult stakeholders and actually ask the industry what they think needs to be done. However, there are signs following a meeting yesterday that the UK Border Agency is mellowing in their approach with the introduction of the Highly Trusted Sponsor programme, as discussed by Study Group UK.
I agree that their initial intervention was harsh, but there was little else they could have done given the pressure from Government in the face of a general election. I am confident that the experience will be better for international students in the future once the industry is fully cleansed.
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Hey daniel,
I think that the standard of IELTS being 6 is very much appropriate. This will make the so called bongus students very much difficult to enter to the UK whose intentionis just to make some money. A student who wants to go to the UK to study will never face any problem in getting 6.0 in ielts.
And daniel i jus want to know the current situation of new london college. it was suspended way back in december. the college has been saying that the problem will be solved within 10-15 days since early january but still no progress at all. i m not getting my documents back and this is giving me lots of troubles. if you do have any information about the college then please let me know.
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I agree lucky, I don’t think it proves a problem for legitimate, motivated students.
Bruce who reads and comments on this blog, teaches at a college where they have just made IELTS 6.0 in each module the mandatory minimum. In order to cope with a course of degree level, I think this is a good baseline.
I have no new information about New London College, but I will try to speak to them on Monday. Do you have an application pending? I’ve not heard from any students having applications with this sponsor refused recently, meaning that maybe the UK Border Agency has not reached a conclusion on the issue.
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hi daniel,
thanks for your reply. yes my application is still pending. i want my documents back as soon as possible becoz i ve got t join a college here in my home country. without the documents its not possible. if i wont get my documents back early then i will loose a complete one year.
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Hi Bruce Lee
What can I say other than to point out that the MAJORITY of scam colleges closed in the UK have been run by foreigners. Some are still being run by some foreigners who have no concern for education but rather in lining their own pockets.
We English have many faults and failings. One of our biggest failings has been to have allowed such weak Border Control for far too long and for being too generous to foreigners who not only enter our country illegally but also present as being bongus students. Those days are fast ending.
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Hi Bruce Lee
You are most welcome to your opinion – that is what democracy is all about.
However, what is your point? Which others are being criticised for being successful? I do not understand what you are writing about. Do you mean the predators who sully the waters of education? Do you mean those who have broken the law to get where they are today?
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Dear Bruce
You can point out at anybody….. but you cannot generalise a particular category of people. If somebody is proved guilty, be it an immigrant or Englishman, they can be blamed. Even if one or two immigrants are involved and are proved guilty, you cannot accuse all immigrants of getting into dodgy stuff (few of your comments are generalising all immigrants).
If one Englishman does some wrong (which they do in plenty), do we start blaming all the British and deport all of them to some colonial prison or some lonely island?
** All Unsuccessful people or people who do not get opportunity to make it big, always talk about ethics and try to find mistakes in Successful people
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A lot of highly successful people regularly question the ethics of those around them and more importantly themselves. Morals and ethics are important attributes to be successful at anything.
I also fail to understand what you’re trying to say – you’re previous comment generalised the British grossly, yet now you’re criticising generalisations?
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Bruce….. I believe there are no better parasites than the British. Fit for nothing….. only criticise successful people (even if they are fellow british)
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Come on Bruce Lee, there’s no need to live in the colonial past. There are civilizations who have blighted history in much worse ways than the British. Besides, if you feel that strongly towards the British, why are you in the UK?
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Can you read – “This article is subject to a legal complaint from New London College”
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Vikram,
I appreciate your audacity, you are stil criticising UKBA even though you/your college has been caught out red handed selling English language certificates.
Cheers!
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The problem with you guys is, you do not know the facts and go by what some nasty reporter has written. When you say ‘caught Red-Handed’, can you substantiate it. It is nowhere mentioned in the article that our college was caught selling certificates. It may be happenning at other places mentioned. Still, we are challenging the allegations as we are confiedent there is no wrong doing at our end. The Awarding Body Compliance Team and our External QA have given clean chit to the way we conduct the classes and assessments.
The article alleges that the classes should be for 250-400 hours, wheras the Awarding Body guidance itself is 30-40 hours and the reporter also claims the exam has to be for 45 minutes, whereas the exam duration itself is for 15 minutes. With regards to crib sheets, it is a Speaking & Listening exam, and the awarding body guidelines allow candidates to take notes during the assessment, which can be in any language (as it is not a reading or writing exam). Hope you are sensible enough to understand that nobody can have a crib sheet to respond to others questions.
Furthermore, I would like to clarify that this allegation has nothing to do with the Suspension of our Licence
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Hi Vikram
Would you care to elaborate further on why our college’s licence has been suspended?
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My own belief is that most of these colleges should be shut down. They have nothing to do with British education. Look at Vikram’s English. Not that of an academic running a college.
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Visa Fraud uncovered at Gateway2UK Education
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The Timesonline story is but one public revelation of a practice that is still taking place in some colleges in the UK. There are many IELTS forged certificates as well.
Happily, the UKBA are arranging for a test system that will cut out this type of scam. Hopefully too, the standard will be IELTS 6 as a minimum.
Sadly so many of the the scam colleges have been / are under the ownership of foreign nationals who abuse UK hospitality. They are parasites that should be deported back to their own countries – without taking their ill-scammed money with them.
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Gateway2UK Education is another college that has been found selling real visa certificates for a fraction of their ‘value’ – i.e. massivley overstating fees paid. All students found to have applied using these forged documents were found to have no English at all.
It appears a group of rogue staff members had set-up the forgery business on the side – all forged documents were signed by current employees.
This was exposed on BBC’s Newsnight programme this evening. We’re cutting the video for you now and will do a full post on it shortly.
On the programme, the UK Immigration Minister Phil Woolas also stated that Gateway2UK Education’s Tier 4 Sponsor Licence had been permenantly withdrawn. We are however seeking further clarification on this point.
You are also right to point out the problem of shady overseas ownership; Gateway2UK Education has changed hands twice in the last 3 months, to people who claim not to know each other, yet use the same lawyer. And the same lawyer is involved in an immigration company in India, thought to be a major source of applications using forged documents.
Very fishy indeed. As I commented previoulsy, these are education’s boiler rooms.
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Hi Bruce, I came to this country to study my master degree with IELTS Ban 6.5. I studied at good university in London. Don’t you think IELTS 6 is too high for students who come to study english as a foreign language? Please advise , Why do you think IELTS 6 is appropriate? Many thanks.
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Hi CKJ
I am also a long-standing teacher of IELTS to students and have given much throught to the current admission standard for English to gain student visa privilege.
My reasons are based on experience and these must be seen against the historical trail whereby student visas have been issued to individuals who have used that easy access route to the UK citing their “need to learn English” – this has often been a cover story.
1. Having lectured in English in various colleges (two of which were scam and the very religious foreign national owners made a fortune out of their evil deeds), it became obvious that MOST of the students were there for work purposes – some, possibly, for terrorist or other reasons. The one college held BAC accreditation that was eventually removed. The other still appears on the ASIC register but not on the UKBA list.
2. I was introduced to the world where false certificates were printed; false documentation for Council Tax, Oyster Card applications; visa extension letters and forged ID documents were the vogue.
3. Agents, who were foreign nationals from Colombia, the Ukraine and Pakistan made a fortune using the college premises as offices for their trade. One has subsequently opened up “a College” in Elephant and Castle. ENGLISH teaching was / is the main drawcard for college operations.
4. Few students registered at those colleges really wanted to learn English and some eventually disappeared into the illegal work force.
5. The current LOW standard for admission will only perpetuate that kind of debacle – the six-month special visa envisaged will not work as many of those individuals will also disappear into the illegal immigrant fabric of the UK.
6. The ENGLISH ROUTE is just an easy ride to unto the UK. An inability to communicate in English affects student motivation, causes problems for the college because it could be penalised due to the failure rate of the students and is a possible reason why the course providers will withdraw their sponsorship. Why must a good college be dragged under by individuals who cannot speak English, are in the UK for financial gain and, when offered FREE English lessons do not turn up because they are working?
7. I am currently teaching students who present as having IELTS 5 AND IELTS 5.5. and TOEFL 90. They just cannot understand, grasp or communicate in English. Their certificates are either forged, earned through bribery or the examiner was useless. They are not capable of communicating in basic English – let alone in non-academic language! Their qualifications are an insult to IELTS standards and a blight on this prestigious body.
8. Serious students must give evidence of their stated intentions to study – getting up to speed with English will be one such evidence. The British Council (and others) provide English classes in foreign countries. Student preparation can commence there. Individuals coming to the UK can get their basic English in their home country – and that means IELTS 6.
9. Of course, this will affect many teaching institutions in the UK but we need to have a standard that will act also as a deterrant for indivuduals who are not only keen to escape the poverty and related conditions in their country to come to the UK.
For too long many English teaching institutions have been raking in money and providing stop-gap and ineffective non-tested teaching. The entrepreneurs on that gravy train must be dumped in the English Channel.
10. Educational institutions need to adapt to the changing situation and could, for example, start schools in foreign countries, diversify their operations or mothball themselves. Lateral thinking is needed.
Sentimentality about our precious English language must not be used as a means to manipulate the situation – this is an issue of logic.
11. English is a global language and the UK needs to have students who can use its linguistic heritage in the best way possible. Learning English programmes are not flexible diving boards into the UK – they are conduits to better education.
I hope I have answered your question. PLease get back to me if I have not.
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Hi Bruce, this response is post-worthy. You’ve outlined some great ideas here, so I’ve submitted it as a featured post, with full credit to you.
Let me know if you have any issues.
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Hi Daniel
Thank you! I will keep you posted.
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Hi Bruce
I think you’ve made some great points here. You can read my reply here: why I think IELTS 6.0 is too high for a UK student visa.
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Any college involved in anything but educating students wishing to learn should be named and shames. Charging students to stamp their Oyster card student discount form, charging for council tax exemption certificates, charging for letters of genuine attendance etc. Any person involved in these practices should be subject to a banning order preventing them from working in the industry. They should also be banned from being company directors for a substantial period, such as 10 years. Personally, I’d like to see anyone involved in excessive abuse of the system heavily fined and jailed.
The introduction of a central English testings system is a good thing – let’s just hope it bloody works!
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Vikram,
Would like to give your views on this media report.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6927026.ece
Regards
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Can you please read the amendment that Times has made to the article – “This article is subject to a legal complaint from New London College”
They have published unsubstantiated information and are not in a position to provide supporting evidence. We have restarted the course and the Awarding Body is with us.
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this question fro vikram i heard ur college got posetive decision from court but why the don’t write ur college name in home office list and i have to extend visa with ur college. if u can’t make any document for student why r u saying your like this like that ……………
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I find it surprising if they have told you that they already have a positive decision from the Court: the case is to be heard today, 19 October 2010. Perhaps they trying to predict the future!
Court should be in session around now in fact.
COURT 1
Before MR JUSTICE CRANSTON
Tuesday 19 October, 2010
At half past 10
APPLICATION(s)
CO/5236/2010 The Queen on the application of New London College v Secretary Of State For The Home Department
CO/9023/2010 The Queen on the application of New College London Limited v Secretary Of State For The Home Department
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Somebody told me what is going on .is that true new London college won the case .but all student r going afraid about it .if college win the case why do not it come on the list college don’t give us truth . College is giving a lot of tension to the student . All student pay full college fee but all the time college need the money from student .but main thisg is that college is still in suspendent so but college is still threading the student they all the time say that if you don’t pay money we r send your document to the ukba . The all student r not happy with this activity so we all r try to hire the solicitor we want our money back .we r going to hire solicitor nixt month .we think that is the best way. If you have any idea about it so tell me .
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