LMU students get more time to find alternative

Accused of spreading panic with an ill-timed move, British authorities have given 3,000 international students at London Metropolitan University 30 more days until December in which to find alternative courses at other universities.

Accused of spreading panic with an ill-timed move, British authorities have given 3,000 international students at London Metropolitan University 30 more days until December in which to find alternative courses at other universities.

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The students, who include 350 Indians, are now expected to receive the UK Border Agency's 'curtailment letters' in October, telling them they have 60 days in which to find an alternative course or leave Britain.

The 60-day period will start from the date the UKBA writes to the student. The expectation is that until then, genuine students will find a place at another institution to continue their courses.

The UKBA stripped the university of its powers to enrol non-European students on Wednesday — just days from the start of the British academic year. Students feared that most places would have been taken up and they faced deportation.

However, some colleges and universities are reportedly eager to snap up the fee-paying students, including Regent's College London, the University of East London, Magna Carta College in Oxford, and Birmingham City University.

"The UKBA has played fast and loose with the international reputation of the UK's world-class higher education system," said Million+, a thinktank representing newer British universities.