UK refuses to compensate students

Those affected by the recent freeze in the student visa process by the British authorities should brace themselves for another
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setback. The British High Commission on Monday shrugged off any responsibility for compensating the affected students, saying it was “an arrangement between colleges and students”.

The assertion came in the wake of queries that genuine students, who were to join various courses in February or the Spring quarter, faced the prospect of losing their fee submitted to institutions as well as precious academic period, especially in cases where licences of institutions had been suspended by the UK authorities in a recent crackdown. Unlike other governments, the British authorities have not made any arrangements to accommodate such students in other colleges offering similar courses.

They did offer an advice to those desirous of studying in UK. “Students should consult well, check websites, approach professional agents and make informed choice before applying for courses in educational institutions in the UK, in order to avoid problems later on,” deputy high commissioner Nigel Casey and regional manager of UK Border Agency Charlie Molloy said here on Monday. “Students can take legal recourse if the institutions are not accommodating,” they added.

There could be a ‘displacement’ reason behind the huge rush, where students from countries like Australia could be shifting to UK. However, some applicants could have been misled into believing that student visa was a good way of gaining entry into UK, the officials said, while adding that there was no discrimination involved in picking out these centres.

Chandigarh is one of the three places in North India — Jalandhar and New Delhi being the other two — where UK Border Agency has “temporarily stopped accepting student visa applications under Tier 4 of the point-based system, following an unusually high number of applications at a time, during a ‘lean’ period.