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What exactly is happening to the private UK ELT sector?

The private sector of the UK's international education industry has been particularly hard hit by recent legislation changes, with new, expensive accreditation requirements in order to be able to operate in the Tier 4 system against a backdrop of a blanket ban on part-time work for students at private sector institutions.
February 10 2012
6 Min Read

For those of you operating outside of the UK sector, here’s a quick synopsis of the major changes and obstacles presented to the UK’s private English language teaching market over the last 12 months:

The visa system was overhauled – again – in March 2011 – with the announcement that all education providers would have to be accredited by a handful of general education assessment bodies rather than sector-specific experts to be able to continue to issue visas under the Tier 4 General Student Visa scheme and attain/retain their status as Highly Trusted Sponsors (HTS).

English language requirements were raised at the same time for undergraduate-level students, but not for English language students, who had to continue to prove a B1 (intermediate) level.

In the case of private English language schools – after an initial delay while no accreditation body raised its hand – it was deemed that this meant Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) accreditation, for the large part.

ISI had no history of working with ELT, it seemed reluctant to work with Accreditation UK (by the admission of Tony Millns, Chief Executive of English UK); and, notably, was extremely expensive. Four-times as expensive as usual accreditation schemes used in the sector.

In the meantime, the ability for each educator to issue Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) – required to enable students to receive their visa – was capped until the accreditation process was completed.

That’s not all. Part-time work rights were stripped for visa holders at private institutions, with significant consequences. This week on BBC Radio 4, John Sanders, Director of Cavendish College in London, spoke about a drop at his school of 70% in enrollments as a result of this legislation – with the outcome being his school has been sold.

Part-time work rights were stripped for visa holders at private institutions

However, the ELT sector was thrown one lifeline – temporarily at least. Schools would be able to accept non-EU nationals on the Extended Student Visitor Visa (ESVV) route, which is not part of the Tier 4 visa route which processes General Student Visas.

Non-EU students can study for up to 11 months on this visa – as long as they return home at the end of their stay and do not hope to transfer on to another course. This ESVV route will be reassessed by government in the next few months.

It’s fair to say that the introduction of the ISI accreditation scheme and associated changes to legislation has caused consternation among the private English language teaching sector. English UK is particularly clear on the measures, describing them as, “particularly damaging change for the sector”, and citing the “four-fold increase in inspection costs for most private colleges”.

Millns at English UK, said, “Colleges believe their next mandatory inspection is likely to cost an average of over £10,500, compared with £3,253 for their previous [sector-specific] Accreditation UK inspection.”

He added that the majority of institutions surveyed say they face a double burden of costs as they need to keep their internationally recognised Accreditation UK status up-to-date as well in order to be able to accept ESVV students. “The total average cost of £14,000 would be uneconomic for many language colleges.”

Peter Hayes is Director of Inlingua Manchester and one of those who has chosen to operate in Tier 4, remain HTS compliant and so gain ISI accreditation. “We felt that [the ISI route] was the most pragmatic route to…comply with UKBA regulation, retain our Tier 4 licence and continue to be a Highly Trusted Sponsor,” he says.

In Hayes’ view, he is doing nothing less than ‘future proofing’ his business

Hayes strikes a positive note when he says: “As safety is our priority when looking after [young] international students, we felt that the ISI inspection framework placed a greater emphasis on this. So we saw this as an opportunity to ensure that all our child welfare & protection policies and procedures meet or exceed the legal minimum.”

Hayes is also right to point out that Jeremy Oppenheim, an authoritative player in the UK Border Agency (UKBA), has stated his intention to bring all student visitor visas within Tier 4 in the future. In Hayes’ view, he is doing nothing less than ‘future proofing’ his business. But he asks, with the previous system unbroken, why the need for a fix? [more>>]

“Arguably, the previously accepted accreditation schemes, especially the British Council one [Accreditation UK], were already fit for purpose and ensured only truly professional schools were accredited. So the imposition of another more expensive inspection scheme is totally unnecessary.”

Nicholas Phillips is School Director of the British Study Centres School of English in Oxford. He is also undergoing the ISI accreditation process to safeguard his school against the prospect of ESVVs no longer existing in the future.

“Despite the fact that we do not have a great number of students who wish to study for more than 11 months, we have elected to keep our option to issue GSVs open as it is not known whether the government will remove the SVV or ESVV route to study in future,” he says. “Other than for this reason, it is unclear what benefits, if any, being accredited by ISI will bring.”

For both Phillips and Hayes, the point behind all this is familiar to all who work in the industry. Says Hayes: “It is clear that the government (and this includes the last Labour administration who started this process) understand that being seen to take a hard line on the myth of “foreigners coming over here and stealing our jobs” is a popular vote winning stance.”

He maintains that all accredited schools are keen to cooperate with government in order to weed out bogus organisations, but argues against “the blunt and clumsy approach the government has taken is harming bona fide trustworthy businesses that perform a great service in preparing genuine international students for UK HE admission”.

This point was backed up yesterday by the British Council’s director of education and society, Dr Jo Beall, who spoke about the issue on a UK radio programme. She noted that a new British Council Education Intelligence report, Impact of Visa Changes on Student Mobility and Outlook for the UK (available to download for UK institutions who register here), pointed out that over 40% of non-EU students entered UK university via a pathway programme or English language route, which the government had failed to understand.

This pathway route is threatened by changes to legislation and although Beall didn’t explicitly say so – this means lack of part-time work rights, burdensome accreditation legislation for providers and the raised English language requirements for undergraduate-level study, which therefore necessitates further English language study prior to application.

“The two most important reasons given for the decline were the absence of part-time working rights and the complexity of immigration rules”

On top of that, post-study work rights for all international students are being withdrawn from April 2012. The BC report observes, “The post-study work route closure from April makes the UK considerably less appealing as a place to work after completing studies.”

In summary, the report – which looked at previous visa reform impact in Australia and the USA – warns, “All recent immigration changes have managed to single out the UK as the country with the toughest immigration regime when compared to its competitors. Relaxed immigration policies combined with post-study work options in Australia, Canada and the US will detract genuine and career-driven students.”

As regards the private sector in particular, think-tank CentreForum also published a report last month which strongly critiscised the government’s two-tier approach to work rights, allowing them for students at state institutions but not studying at private colleges. It liaised with Study UK in producing its report, whose members are private further and higher education colleges.

“The major problem with the reforms is that the blanket restriction on the working rights of international students at private colleges penalises all such colleges, including reputable institutions that work closely with universities to provide high quality courses,” it said. It cited a survey of Study UK members in November 2011, which revealed a 56% drop in applications and a 71% drop in actual enrolments for member colleges.

“I know that I am not alone in feeling that our industry has been vilified by recent governments”

“The two most important reasons given by colleges for the decline in applications and enrolments were the absence of part-time working rights and the complexity of immigration rules,” continued the report. “It is not known how many of the students who did not attend private HE colleges simply switched to public universities where they were able to undertake part-time work.”

Phillips sums up, “I know that I am not alone in feeling that our industry has been vilified by recent governments for what is seen as our part in the perceived increase in illegal immigration. This feeling results from the negative press we have collectively received combined with the rather punitive changes made to the student visa system. Our clients are now derisively described as ‘migrants’ rather than students, despite the fact that these ‘migrants’ contribute some £40 billion to the UK economy.”

• Additional reporting by Nick Jordan.

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