Lecturers asked to spy on foreign students – again

The government has outlined plans for surveillance units to keep an eye on international students in a bid to cut down on illegal immigration and falsified university applications.

The new system, to be implemented in March next year, will require universities to have licenses issued by the UK Border Agency if they wish to teach students who are not from Europe.

By Autumn 2009, according to the government, the system will be strengthened by the introduction of a "sponsor management system," which will have universities inform the Border Agency if students miss more than ten lectures.

Phil Woolas, the border and immigration minister, said: “Those who come to Britain must play by the rules and benefit the country.

"This new route for students will ensure we know exactly who is coming here to study and stamp out bogus colleges which facilitate the lawbreakers.”

The move comes in light of the expulsion of fifty East Asian students from Newcastle University, who were found to have false documentation.

Students will also have to submit their fingerprints as part of a number of new requirements, in addition to having a sponsorship from a licensed institution.

According to the Home Office, over three hundred bogus colleges have been removed from the government's list of legitimate education institutions since 2005.

The new system, which borrows elements from the Australian points-system for immigration, will only grant entry to students who have a valid track record in education, and hold the minimum level of qualification for the course they are applying for.

David Lammy, minister of state for higher education, said: “We will not tolerate the minority of individuals who seek to damage the quality of our education system through bogus colleges.

"This is why we have introduced tighter checks to the current register of education and training providers.

"The new system will toughen this process further and give extra protection from the damage bogus colleges can cause.”

Academics and student representatives alike have responded negatively to the announcement of these new measures.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said: “We do not believe it is appropriate or effective to task colleges and universities with the policing of immigration.

"Despite writing to the departments involved, at no point have we been consulted by either the Home Office or the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).

"At a time when we need to appear more, not less, attractive to students and academics from overseas, these proposals will fundamentally taint the UK university brand.

Ms Hunt added: “We have been down the road of asking staff to monitor their students before and UCU robustly opposed such measures"

"As we said then, if people wanted to go into the monitoring or spying game, they would have become spooks.

"We believe that, if implemented, the proposals could only harm the important relationship between staff and students, as well as having a knock-on effect in terms of work load for our members and, therefore, has contractual implications.”

Labour Peer and human rights lawyer, Baroness Helena Kennedy, told The Journal that she had concerns about the requirement on academic staff to inform on students.

“Introducing measures, which turn academic staff into informants, completely undermines the relationship of trust that is essential in any learning environment," Baroness Kennedy said.

"Universities and colleges are communities and once you introduce a policing role into the function of academic staff, you are destroying the very ethos of academic institutions.”