Association of Colleges

07 February 2010

Colleges respond to today's (7 February) announcement from Alan Johnson on changes to the foreign student visa system.
 
Martin Doel, Association of Colleges Chief Executive, said:
 
“AoC member Colleges offer high quality courses to legitimate students and are closely regulated, so we are pleased that they will continue to be able to offer these courses to overseas students at level 3 and above as 'highly trusted' institutions. 
 
"We will, however, need to see the detail of the proposals to determine the full impact on courses which are valuable to the British economy and the educational experience of UK students. We are pleased that there will be a period of consultation with key stakeholders, such as Colleges, before the proposals are implemented.”
 
Contact:
Ben Verinder
Association of Colleges Communications Director
ben_verinder@aoc.co.uk
 
Notes to Editors:

• The UK's further education Colleges are publicly funded highly-regulated institutions incorporated by Act of Parliament, subject to close regulation by various funding bodies, offering legitimate courses to legitimate students and demonstrating robust monitoring systems.
• Further education colleges provide high quality education to over 28,000 legitimate non-EU international students every year.
• Further education Colleges educate and train around three million people each year
• The Association of Colleges and partners in the UK Council of Colleges are calling for Government to restrict the activities of bogus Colleges by protecting the title ‘College’ under law.