Accreditation surprise and low-risk countries revealed in UKBA re-jig: The UK Border Authority (UKBA) has announced that it won’t be using the accreditation agencies that it mandated previously to verify the quality of privately operated schools, such as English language schools, for Student Visa issuance. This leaves a question mark over the role that schemes such as Accreditation UK, which is jointly operated by English UK and the British Council, will play.
While UKBA decrees that such accreditation will still be acceptable for the issuance of Child Visas and Student Visitor Visas, in order to be able to issue Student Visas (required for any study duration of over 11 months) any privately operated education institution will have to be accredited by one of the bodies that mandates public sector education. These include the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI).
Tony Millns, Chief Executive of English UK, said that at the time of writing, there was a suggestion that the job of accrediting private education providers might be outsourced to agencies such as Accreditation UK, for example. “So far Ofsted and Estyn [in Wales] have said that they are not legally empowered to accredit private sector institutions,” he said, suggesting that this set the tone for possible outsourcing.
UKBA unveiled a whole raft of other rules at the same time in its statement of intent regarding student visas published on March 31, ahead of its new student visa system that is rolled out in phases from April 21. It has outlined which countries are deemed low-risk and therefore nationals from these countries are exempt from having to show maintenance funds and relevant qualifications from “summer” 2011: Argentina, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Korea, Trinidad & Tobago and the USA.
This marks a change from previous procedures whereby all students had to show proof of funds in order to study. Miki Harada, of Ryugaku Journal agency in Japan, said, “The regulation has been changed several times so our sales staffs sometimes show negative attitudes toward the UK.... [this change] may take a while to take root in Japan anyway.”
Accreditation surprise and low-risk countries revealed in UKBA re-jig: The UK Border Authority (UKBA) has announced that it won’t be using the accreditation agencies that it mandated previously to verify the quality of privately operated schools, such as English language schools, for Student Visa issuance. This leaves a question mark over the role that schemes such as Accreditation UK, which is jointly operated by English UK and the British Council, will play.
While UKBA decrees that such accreditation will still be acceptable for the issuance of Child Visas and Student Visitor Visas, in order to be able to issue Student Visas (required for any study duration of over 11 months) any privately operated education institution will have to be accredited by one of the bodies that mandates public sector education. These include the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI).
Tony Millns, Chief Executive of English UK, said that at the time of writing, there was a suggestion that the job of accrediting private education providers might be outsourced to agencies such as Accreditation UK, for example. “So far Ofsted and Estyn [in Wales] have said that they are not legally empowered to accredit private sector institutions,” he said, suggesting that this set the tone for possible outsourcing.
UKBA unveiled a whole raft of other rules at the same time in its statement of intent regarding student visas published on March 31, ahead of its new student visa system that is rolled out in phases from April 21. It has outlined which countries are deemed low-risk and therefore nationals from these countries are exempt from having to show maintenance funds and relevant qualifications from “summer” 2011: Argentina, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Korea, Trinidad & Tobago and the USA.
This marks a change from previous procedures whereby all students had to show proof of funds in order to study. Miki Harada, of Ryugaku Journal agency in Japan, said, “The regulation has been changed several times so our sales staffs sometimes show negative attitudes toward the UK…. [this change] may take a while to take root in Japan anyway.”
