College Faces Certificate Investigation

Fri, 20 Aug 2010

A Manchester based college is under investigation over allegations that it illegally sold English language certificates. The City of Guilds and the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator are to investigate the Oxford College of Management Sciences after it was claimed that the college sold the certificates for between £250 and £450 to immigrants arriving in the UK. According to an investigation by The Times, the students often had little knowledge of what they were alleged to have studied, prompting the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to reject anyone who possessed the qualification since April.

The certificates can prove a useful means of helping immigrants in their efforts to obtain permanent residency in the UK. Exams regulator Ofqual has previously voiced concerns over the presence of bogus colleges falsely awarding immigrants with certificates suggesting they had been pupils on language courses at the college.

The investigation comes as the government looks to gain control of rising immigration levels in the UK. Last year saw a 58 per cent rise in the number of immigrants granted British citizenship, taking the figure above 200,000 – the highest level since records began in 1962.
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.