“How am I supposed to be good at English when I came here to learn it?”
The London Metropolitan University’s campus. Students affected by the UK Border Agency’s visa ruling have 60 days to find an alternative or face expulsion. – Photo by AFP
“I don’t know English well, which is why I paid so much money to come here and study it,” said Saira, a Pakistani student at the London Metropolitan University. Saira is one of the several thousand students affected by a UK Border Agency (UKBA) ruling against the university’s visa regulations. She has recently discovered that she may have to learn the language she came to study in order to survive in the country as her university has failed the BA standard for English competency of international students. She termed the decision, “really, really shocking.”
In hindsight, it was probably in the works for a long time. The UK Border Agency (BA) has previously suspended the visa licence of private institutions when systemic failings have been identified, and subsequently revoked the visa licence if they failed to remedy these failings. However, when – in a landmark decision – UK BA withdrew the licence of a public institution it left thousands of students in uproar and the university community in shock on the impact it will have on a £12.5-billion-a -year industry.
When Dawn.com spoke to the students affected by the ruling, some broke down into tears while others were left fuming at what they call “inhumane treatment” at the hands of the UKBA.
Yakoub is an ‘A-Grade’ Mathematics student at London Metropolitan University who is currently searching for alternatives in order to complete his degree but the only offer he has been able to receive is from Brunel University, where he will have to repeat his second year. This leaves him with two extremely challenging tasks: Firstly, he does not have the finances to repeat his second year. He has been heavily reliant on his elderly parents for fund-raising in his village back home in Pakistan. Secondly, the UKBA does not grant a visa to international students who have to repeat a year but Yakoub must repeat a year to finish his studies at Brunel. This means he must prove this rule should not apply to him by either paying for legal advice or learn the law to prove that he has made “academic progress.”
Yakoub says indignantly “these universities are trying to squeeze more money out of us, and if they tell everyone to repeat one year how can we say no after all the hard work we have done? You come to this country for a better education, and we have done nothing wrong but the way we are being treated is so inhumane.”
Adnan, from Bangladesh, and Javeed, from India, were studying Computer Sciences. When asked whether the taskforce set up by the government had been any help, they replied: “The taskforce is useless. They can not say one way or the other. There is no help at all.”
These students have a little over a month to come to terms with the news, find an alternative university place, try to find the finances to pay for this having lost money at London Metropolitan and deal with the family concerns. Even if they are lucky to find a placement, they feel they are held hostage by whatever financial and non-financial demands that these institutions make as they have no feasible alternatives.
“Sixty days is not an adequate remedy for these students,” legal advisor Mohammad Jamali told Dawn.com. The London Metropolitan University should immediately establish a compensation board to help students with the immediate costs suffered and the BA should grant an extension of 80-100 days to alleviate the harrowing struggle these students are battling.
Students enrolled at the London Metropolitan undertook a silent protest outside No.10 Downing Street on Thursday, taping their mouths and carrying placards stating, “International students not welcome here.”
Bello, a Union Welfare Officer, says that an astounding nine out of ten Student Union Officers are international students. These officers will need to vacate their posts and leave the remaining university students without a union on which to rely, during an extremely trying period, unless the BA grants a reprieve to retain the union officers, which is highly unlikely. This is just one of the many non-financial contributions that international students make within the UK community, which will be severely affected.
The National Union of Students (NUS) has criticised BA’s decision for withdrawing London Met’s visa licence of London Metropolitan in order to meet UK government’s target to reduce immigration.
Fellow varsities, such as Bristol University, have criticised decision as failing to be proportionate given the irreparable damage that this message will send out to international students and the fact that this has left London Metropolitan exposed to an indeterminate amount of compensation claims.
The BA, meanwhile, has responded saying that London Metropolitan had been undergoing a BA audit for several months and the visa licence was suspended July 2012 after three significant systemic failings were uncovered and the subsequent revocation has been a “sensible measure to ensure we have immigration control.”
The London Metropolitan University is currently undertaking legal advice to respond decisively at the BA decision which they considered to be a wildly insensible measure.
While the finality of BA’s decision, and the future of international students remains unclear, growing concerns on immigration have sent one clear message: the UK is taking no prisoners as it grows more strict with immigration.
Shabana Saleem is a freelance writer based in London.
Dont worry students,just relax, there are plenty of other visa options available for you like Charity worker visa, TierTwo, Working Holiday Maker Visa or Ancestory Visa.
British immigration system as proposed by UKBA is still the easiest immigration system in the world with plenty of loopholes.Once anybody enters UK on student visa he is straightaway qualified for free medical, free maternity benefits, free medicines, free paternity benefits etc.If somebody enters the UK he can openly work 80 hours a week freely as there are no checks.He can do business , get credit cards and loans freely.Once somebody obtains TierOne or TierTwo visas he can easily get British passport just by spending few years, showing earning and maintenance funds. I wonder if you show UKBA money (which they call maintenance funds or salary/earning) they are even ready to sell their Queen to the applicants.British passport is only on open sale these days to EU countries and also non EU rich citizens.
What’s the big fuss ? Majority
are bogus students especially from Pakistan and India. Well educated people in Pakistan and India speak better English then many natives of the British isles.
Adnan, from Bangladesh, and Javeed, from India, were studying Computer Sciences. …. Why on earth Javeed come to do computer science here? Most of the Indian software workers working in UK with high salary did their education in India. Javeed must have heard about IITs spread all over india. He should go back, and so should Adnan from Bangladesh.
NO,you do not come to UK to learn English. You can do that in Pakistan like many others.
Well, take a hint.. they dont want you there.
Absolutely, when we as a nation treat Christians and other minorities like trash without even considering
the consequences such actions have on our standing abroad, then countries like UK, USA and others also have the right to admit or expel who ever they wish. In this age of global community an event in some backward Pakistani village in Punjab like the many blasphemy cases, news travel around the world. So reap what you sow and rasie the standard of education here.
dude, i really dont know where u comming from? How is this reaping what we’re sowing. This is NOT a Pakistan centric or anti-Pakistan decision. It’s a decision which has affected ONE university and amongst ALL the students (from different countries) affected due to this decision; SOME happen to be from Pakistan…I love my countrymen’s favourite hobby of bashing Pakistan at every bloody excuse; whether its related to the topic or not.
good jugment
“How am I supposed to be good at English when I came here to learn it?”
Learn English from any decent school in Pakistan, this is no excuse.
Well, you are right in a way but look at the standards of education in pakistan. It all starts from how much a teacher is truly committed to deliver his/her lectures. I mean, right from the begining, people send their children to “english medium schools” and teachers speak urdu sometimes IN the classes, most of the times when they handle querries outside classroom, and all the time chit chatting with their colleagues, setting an urdu example. When asked why urdu? They quickly turn into “enthusiastic paki nationals”. Common people! Urdu is just a language NOT a religion. Come out of your shells and have broader perspectives. Learn how to compete!
ِِِِِAll those affected by this should take a cool bath…
ummmmm….why are we complaining when we are getting kicked out of other people’s countries?? We should first look ourselves in a mirror and ask how we treat minorities in our own country!