The results showed nearly half of all applicants from Pakistan should have been refused, nearly 60 per cent from India, one third of those from China and 62 per cent from Burma. The vast majority were applying to study at private colleges, but nearly one in seven were university applicants.
One in four non-EU students entering the UK last year were not genuinely attending an educational establishment
Mininsters were accused of having ‘bottled out’ on tackling bogus students last night – as it emerged some 60,000 may have entered the country last year.
The study by the MigrationWatch think tank, based on official figures, suggests more than one in four of all non-EU students entering the country last year were not genuine.
The figures will spur demands for a further toughening of the student regime, and reinforce opposition to Lib Dem calls for students to be removed from the immigration numbers altogether.
David Cameron, under pressure from Business Secretary Vince Cable and the higher education industry, is considering taking students out of net migration statistics.
That is despite his own immigration minister saying to do so would ‘destroy public confidence in the Government’s immigration policy’.
Students are thought to add around 75,000 to the UK population every year – with thousands staying on illegally.
A Home Office-commissioned study conducted thousands of interviews with applicants from around the world.
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