London Metropolitan University allowed to admit foreign students again after licence restored

London Metropolitan University had failed to address failings identified by the now-defunct UK Border Agency (UKBA) (REX)

A university which became the first in the country to be stripped of its right to teach foreign students has been given the green light to accept them again.

London Metropolitan University was told last August that it could no longer recruit students from outside the EU after the UK Border Agency claimed that one in four students it had surveyed were being taught at the university despite not having permission to remain in the UK.

The Border Agency said the university had been lax in keeping tabs on its students and insisted all foreign students had to go. However, a High Court judge later ruled that bona fide foreign students could continue with their studues pending a full hearing of London Met’s call for a judicial review of the earlier decision.  This has yet to come to court.

But yesterday the Home Office said it is now satisfied the university’s monitoring arrangements have improved and reinstated its licence to recruit overseas students.

“We have worked closely with university staff to ensure that London Met standards were improved,” said Immigration Minister Mark Harper.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said hundreds of students had suffered “unnecessary disruption” as a result of the earlier decision.

“We are still to fully feel the impact of the damage the UKBA’s decision had in terms of our international reputation,” she added.