Visa warning from private schools

BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Visa warning from private schools

Tighter visa rules to stop bogus colleges are causing problems for private schools seeking foreign pupils, says the Independent Schools Council.

ISC chief executive David Lyscom will tell its annual conference that regulations "must be proportionate".

New rules monitoring colleges which want to recruit foreign students also apply to private schools.

The government said the rules on immigration had to be consistently applied to all education institutions.

"The system is designed to prevent dodgy students and institutions from operating and so protect Britain. The rules are firm but fair - and they apply to everyone," said a UK Border Agency spokesperson.

“ The key message for our politicians is that regulation must be focused and proportionate ”
David Lyscom Independent Schools Council

Mr Lyscom will tell the Independent Schools Council conference that independent schools are well placed to weather the recession - but their greater concern is excessive regulation.

"The greatest threat is probably not economic, but legislative. Regulation, inspection and monitoring are essential to protect children and guarantee standards," Mr Lyscom will tell the conference.

"But the burden needs to be simplified and, where risks are low, reduced.

"A classic example is the new visa regime. Its main aims are to keep potential terrorists and illegal workers out of the UK.

"Its main effect for us is to make it very difficult for Chinese children to come to our schools.

"This cannot be right," he will tell the conference.

"The key message for our politicians is that regulation must be focused and proportionate."

Approved list shrunk

International students wanting to study at UK educational institutions now face greater checks, including a requirement for a biometric identity card.

The restrictions have been imposed in an attempt to stop bogus colleges which have misused the student visa system to provide an immigration route into the UK.

Since the regulations were introduced, the list of institutions approved to recruit overseas students has shrunk considerably.

Mr Lyscom will say the number of pupils in ISC schools rose by 3,000 to January 2009, but will acknowledge the full effects of the recession may not yet have been felt.

He will say reports of private school closures running at one a week "need to be taken with a pinch of salt".

"Even where parents are being squeezed, evidence suggests that school fees are one of the last areas where parents will cut expenditure.

"Unlike holidays, cars and flat screen TVs, educating one's children is not seen as discretionary expenditure."