An automated system for international students and agents applying to UK universities has been launched in a bid to speed up the process and stamp out fraud. Centurus ONE has already been used to process 2,000 applications at the University of Glyndwr’s London campus and is being trialled at ten other institutions.
According to creator Dawood Fard, 25, who had the idea while studying a business management masters at the University of Central Lancashire, the system tracks and processes applications online for multiple institutions simultaneously – much like the UCAS system, which is not widely used by overseas students.
It also creates a “document trail” that could help prevent abuse of the visa system and reduce administrative errors, helping more genuine students find a place.
“Rather than receiving an email with a student’s application which may be 20 or so pages and paper based, the application will arrive online directly to the appropriate international officer’s login,” he told The PIE News, adding the system would save much wasted time.
“The application will arrive online directly to the appropriate international officer’s login”
“Any queries relating to an application are currently handled by phone or email, however this system allows direct application notes to be added which can be seen and replied to by the student and agent.”
Fard, 25, said he had been inspired by a work placement in Delhi, India, where he was surprised by the bureaucracy students faced when applying to British universities.
Noting that only one in 10 non-EU students in the UK go through the UCAS system, he suggests Centurus could make up some of the shortfall (although the system can be used in conjunction with UCAS as well). To use the system institutions pay a small fee per student enrolled along with a monthly service fee, while students, and agents if they choose to use them, pay nothing.
It is also integrated with Uni-Pay, a system providing better exchange rates for international student payments such as tuition fees. Further combating fraud, institutions can use Centurus to share information on and rate agents.
“The system supports institution set preferences, so if they wish the agent to only complete part of the application and student to login themselves to complete the rest, this can ensure further application scrutiny,” adds Fard.
There were 173,560 first year non-EU students on UK higher education courses in 2011-12, but enrolments are slowing as new visa policies to tackle fraud start to bite. Most worrying was a 24% drop from the Indian market, which is deemed to have a high risk of visa fraud by the UK Border Agency.
