THE revelation that a bogus course for immigrants seeking citizenship qualifications is being run for profit in Glasgow, Leeds and Luton is an indictment of Home Office tardiness in pushing through legislation to end the kind of sharp practices first exposed by The Herald last year. That said, it also presents the Scottish Government with a golden opportunity to take the lead in halting the shameful exploitation of people eager to live in the UK.
In the wake of this newspaper's coverage last October, the Home Office Border and Immigration Agency launched an investigation into whether counterfeit colleges were set up purely to bring immigrants into the UK, rather than educate them. That is ongoing, but the Home Office and the newly formed Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in Westminster have gone no further than announcing that, from 2009, all private colleges recruiting students from overseas will be required to register with them and to prove they are genuine. In the meantime, the trade in false qualifications continues, with the desperate victims often unaware that the one-day courses on offer for more than £350 a time are designed to make money for the individuals who set them up, without delivering anything that might count towards a UK visa. The Association of Scotland's Colleges (ASC) has been pressing ministers to tighten up the rules, but the issue appears to have become bogged down in bureaucracy and procrastination. Although such courses fall within the remit of Westminster because of their immigration implications, Scotland's lawmakers could take a hand by passing emergency measures to crack down on bogus schemes under their powers to regulate education. It would be a half-way house, given the constitutional barriers of devolved administration, but could represent a groundbreaking start to ending exploitation.
A request under Freedom of Information legislation showed that 67 students were given visas to remain in Scotland in the academic year 2006-2007 by the Borders and Immigration Agency after signing up for courses at the non-existent Commonwealth College in Glasgow. But UK Visas, a branch of the Home Office which issues visas to students, does not keep accessible records of which establishments those students are attending. The ASC has already written to Des Browne, Secretary of State for Scotland, calling for the 1985 Business Names Act to be changed to include protection of the term "college". The act currently protects the names "university", "polytechnic", "institute" and "special school" and only those who have approval from the Secretary of State can use such terms. However, "college" is not protected. More disturbingly, nor is there yet any meaningful barrier to anyone setting up courses that ultimately deliver nothing.
