Leading overseas education consultancy, Oceanic Consultants has welcomed the recent move of the UK border agency to suspend taking visa applications at its centres in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Jalandhar from Monday.
Reacting to the move, Mr. Naresh Gulati, CEO, Oceanic Consultants said, “This may temporarily hamper the business, but in the long run, it would be in the interest of the industry as well as the student community. This will get rid of both fake colleges and unscrupulous agents rampant in the industry. But unfortunately some genuine students may also suffer in the process. We are fully convinced that U.K Government would do everything they can to secure interests of such students.”
Adding further he said, “There are institutions that need money to educate and there are other institutions who educate to make money. And the industry is falling prey to the latter category of the institutions. Through this move U.K border agency has sent a clear message that they are more focus on the quality, I hope other countries follow the suit.” Says Mr. Gulati.
Overseas education industry being highly fragmented industry with low entry barriers has, in the last few years, been hijacked by non genuine agents and students alike. The ever increasing use of fraudulent means to obtain students visa has lead to non genuine students entering shores of the countries such as Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand. Such students clearly lack the skills to adapt themselves into the local society which contributes the problem these students face whilst being overseas.
Mr. Gulati said “It is high time that the industry wakes up to the cause. The governments of various countries need to devise a mechanism that only allows genuine quality institutions to recruit students. This can easily make sure that student with genuine intentions are granted the student visas.”
The role of foreign universities in shaping the Indian graduates into future leaders is all too well-known. But over the past two decades, Indian students’ mobility to foreign universities has become an integral part of the India’s higher education landscape. According to the reports, presently around 104,522 are studying in the US followed by over 97,000 in Australia, 25,905 in the UK and over 6,040 in New Zealand. According to Ministry of Overseas Affairs, demand for overseas higher education is increasing with over 2.64 lakh Indian students, who have gone abroad for studies, spending approximately about Rs 27,000 crore ($5.5 billion) every year.
But off late, there has been an increase in the usage of fake documentation for getting the beneficial visa outcome. Fraud ranges from fake financial documentation such as bank loans or bank statements, fake marriages and also fake qualifications documents. In some cases, students opt for use of such fraudulent documentation; agents are driving the use of fake documentation in others.
More From This Section
Most of the countries have overhauled their migration policies to curb such frauds. These policies have been revised with an aim of attracting genuine students. As a resultant, between April 1 and June 26 this year, almost half, or 49.1% of student visa applications from India were refused. In one of the reports, Britain's Further Education Minister Kevin Brennan also admitted he is concerned about the wave of fake colleges is damaging the UK's reputation as a centre for education. There could be as many as 2,000 privately funded 'fake' colleges in the UK, allowing tens of thousands of bogus students in to the country, it has emerged.
Taking a further bolder step, The UK Border Agency, which enforces immigration and customs regulations and considers applications for permission to enter or stay in Britain, today announced the suspension in taking visa applications at its centres in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Jalandhar from Monday. These three centres had received nearly 1,000 student visa applications from October to December 2007. This number increased to 1,800 in the same period in 2008 while the number climbed to 13,500 in the corresponding period last year.
About Oceanic Consultants
Established in 1996, Oceanic Consultants Private Limited has over a decade of impeccable record of providing consultancy to aspirations of overseas education. The head office of the company is in Melbourne and Network Offices are located in various parts of the Southern Hemisphere, UK and India. Oceanic provides consultancy for Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom. Oceanic has an extensive network spread over 22 cities, to provide world class service near you. Moreover a fine blend of centralized and decentralized operations help the clients save on both time and costs. Oceanic provides consultancy on all aspects of overseas education. A highly dedicated team of seasoned professionals provide customized solutions to every client.
With a very high visa success rate in the Industry, Oceanic has gained a place of significance in the overseas education industry. Oceanic is also the recipient of the Australian Business Award for two consecutive years in 2008 and 2009 and is listed as the 32nd fastest growing company in Australia by Business Review Weekly (BRW) in the year 2008.