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The London Metropolitan University’s (LMU) license was revoked on August 29 by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) due to ‘serious and systemic failures,’ thus affecting 359 Indian students at the university. In a development following the announcement , as updated on the university website, LMU has instructed its lawyers to commence urgent legal action to challenge the revocation of its ‘Highly Trusted’ status for sponsoring international students, so that its students can return to study as a matter of urgency.
The action is based on a highly flawed report by the UKBA, according to the Vice-Chancellor of LMU, Malcolm Gillies.
However, a British High Commission spokesperson said, the priority is to help legitimate students affected by this decision to revoke the Tier 4 sponsor licence from LMU to help them to find a new course of equivalent value and to carry over to their new courses the credits they have built up. A taskforce has, therefore, been set up in the UK, according to the spokesperson, to assist genuine students affected by this decision to revoke London Met’s sponsor licence. The taskforce comprises the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Universities UK (UUK), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and the National Union of Students (NUS). It is working with London Met to support genuine students to find another education provider with whom to continue their studies.
Eric Thomas, president of Universities UK (UUK), said that the first priority is to support the students affected by this action to ensure that, wherever possible, they can stay in the UK and continue their studies. UUK and the UK HE International Unit will be working with a task force that has been set up to mitigate the impact of this decision on student.
Meanwhile in a development, genuine students currently studying at LMU do not need to take any immediate action. UKBA will write to them after October 1. They will then have 60 days to make a new student application to study at another education institution , or to arrange to leave the UK. The 60 days will start from the date the UKBA contacts the student.