The UK needs a mandatory guarantee scheme for students attending private colleges to protect then in the event their college going into administration or closing for other reasons.

This is the argument being made by Dominic Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, following the closure of a private business school in London.

Students from 20 countries including Cambodia, Ghana, India, Nepal, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Syria, Ukraine and Zambia were affected by the closure of the London branch of Indian-owned TASMAC (Training and Advanced studies in Management and Communication) this month.

TASMAC's London School of Business, which offered degrees validated by the University of Wales, went into liquidation on 6 October. On Friday news broke that the University of Wales had been abolished following media exposure of a visa scam and lack of proper checks on foreign colleges accredited to award its degrees.

“We are concerned about the plight of students half-way through their course and who have to find new colleges to keep their student visa, and they lose their (post-degree) work entitlement - it is possible that up to 1,000 students are affected.

“What we are finding is that these are legitimate students. A number have also lost their money.”

The students of the college now have only 60 days under UK visa rules to find another course or otherwise they will be forced to leave the country.

Transfers to other colleges have been hampered by the lack of a proper credit transfer scheme and the fact that, unusually, many TASMAC students had to pay the entire course fee upfront before embarking on the course.

Posted by Keith Broomer

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