Crackdown on UK student visas could threaten language schools
November 25 2009 by Liam Clifford
Gordon Browns changes to the UK student visa system is feared will affect language schools negatively.
Oxford Language Centre principal Jenny Wasilewski has spoken
out about fears that hers and other language schools in the city could be forced
to close due to UK visa changes for students.
Gordon Brown has recently
announced plans to crack down on people trying to obtain student visas for fake
courses to enable them to live in the UK. However, Wasilewski, who also runs the
Abacus College in Oxford, says that genuine students are already finding it
difficult to obtain UK visas to allow them to study in the UK.
She adds that
these difficulties could prompt many language school students to study English
elsewhere, obtaining Australian or US student visas instead. This would have a
detrimental effect on Oxford’s economy, suggests Wasilewski.
She stated,
“we are already losing business to places like America or Canada because we are
making rules impossible to follow. It would put many colleges out of business if
people were not allowed in for courses below degree level.”
Language
schools are set to be especially effected as measures may be brought in to
increase minimum English language skills required to obtain student visas. Rules
may also prevent students from working in the UK while they study on their UK visa, further
deterring them from studying in the UK.
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