london met

London Metropolitan University's international student licence was reinstated this week, allowing them to once again recruit overseas students. The decision from the Home Office comes nine months after the university were initially punished by UKBA for allegedly not meeting its responsibilities.

The university has fought the decision ever since it was first made, and after a number of inspections over the last 6 months the government is now happy that the university meets the required standard. Interestingly, the Home Office have moved to revoke the decision just a matter a weeks after it was announced that UKBA was being disbanded and replaced.

The university will once again be allowed to sponsor Tier 4 visas for international students, meaning that new students can join and the current non-EU students will be able to complete their courses.

However, London Met is now face a 12-month probation period to prove their suitability, during which time the number of international students they are allowed to recruit will be limited.

During the announcement, Immigration Minister Mark Harper said:

The true extent of the damage done to London Metropolitan University's international student community over the last few months has been revealed. After the students were told in August that they would not be allowed to study at the university, that decision was then overturned, though more than 55% of the international students have still ended up leaving London Met.

This is just the latest in a string of headlines about London Met's international students over the last few months. The problems started when the UK Border Agency revoked the university's visa licence, meaning that with just a matter of weeks before the start of a new academic year, thousands of non-EU students were left stranded. However, after winning the right to appeal the decision, the university was given a temporary reprieve and its students were given the option to study at the institution until the end the current academic year.

Despite this change of decision, of the 1,385 students who were given the option of staying at the university, only 620 chose to do so. The reasons for this low uptake are numerous.

The latest in a series of protests against the decision to revoke London Met's licence to teach international students took place at the university today.

Dozens of students and NUS members gathered at the Holloway Road campus to show their anger at the decision which leaves more than 3000 international students with no university to return to at the end of the month.

ForeignStudents.com's Afshin was on the scene taking photos, interviewing the students and updating us on any action. The video gives an idea of the anger at the protest: