It has been a week since the London branch of Pune-based Training and Advanced Studies in Management and Communication (TASMAC) group which has b-schools in Kolkata and Bangalore, shut its doors. But the 650 students who studied there are still unsure of what lies ahead in their future. Efforts are on to shift them to some other school in the UK but if that fails, the Indian-origin students will be simply deported back to India and given the choice of continuing their MBA at one of TASMAC’s Indian centres.
Before it shut shop on October 6, 2011, TASMAC – London was affiliated to the University of Wales (UOW). Last week, UOW officials met the affected students to work out a solution. Tomas Llewelyn Barrett of the University of Wales confirmed to PaGaLGuY that the university was in talks with its partner institutions to rehabilitate the displaced students. Some of these partner institutions also attended the meeting. Discussions were also being held to decide whether students would have to repay the course fee to the new colleges or whether TASMAC London will refund the amount already paid.
Any solution to save the students’ future is obligated to to satisfy the regulations of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) (a body which enforces immigration policies for students and work professionals) which deal with enrollment of international and non-European Union students in UK-based colleges.
Explaining the current status, Sameer Dua, joint managing director, TASMAC India and London, said that the most preferred option was to transfer the affected students to UOW’s collaborative centres. “If and when this is done, students will be able to complete their studies under normal academic conditions and graduate with a University of Wales award,” he added.
Ironically, in August 2011, TASMAC Pune had received a letter from the British Accreditation Council (a body which grants licenses to private institutes), requesting its London branch to be a part of the very list of colleges that would rehabilitate students displaced due to the shutting down of other private schools. But thanks to a change in immigration rules in 2010, a numbers of school have closed down in the UK. Little did TASMAC know, that its own London branch would be part of the ill-fated list in a few months.
The UKBA’s immigration rules differ according to the type of immigration (working, studying) required. Prior to 2010, private educational institutions needed to ‘sponsor’ their students before enrollment. To be able to do that, the institute had to acquire a Tier 4 licence. TASMAC London fell under this Tier 4 status.
The Royal Court of Justice, London where the UKBA has been sued by the AUKPSC (Photo credit: Ben Sutherland)
However, in March 2010, drastic changes were made to these rules. Besides the Tier 4 license, institutes were asked to additionally apply for the Highly Trusted Sponsor status and undergo inspection by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) — for which they had to cough up 20,000 with April 2012 as the deadline. Apparently, these fresh regulations were initiated because cases of migrants posing as students (only to enter the UK) had begun to rise.
But the TASMAC (London) story is even more complicated. The changed visa rules cannot be held solely responsible for the state of affairs it is in currently. In the background, TASMAC was in talks with another b-school to acquire the London branch. But the deal did not go through and at the last minute TASMAC was not in a position to cough up the 20,000 to acquire the Highly Trusted Sponsor Status. It had actually gone bankrupt, liquidated the company and surrendered its Tier 4 licence.
Why did TASMAC not inform its students about the state of affairs?
We were in advanced stages of discussions of the deal. Unfortunately, right at the end, the deal fell through and at that point of time (we) had to surrender its licence as it was not a going concern anymore, answered Mr Dua.
Strangely, that TASMAC was in dire straits was not even known to regulating agencies such as the British Accreditation Council (BAC), a non-government body which was accrediting private colleges before the QAA norm was put into force.
Gina Hopkins, chief executive of BAC told PaGaLGuY that she was not aware of what exactly had happened with TASMAC or whether it was in talks of a buy out. Many private institutes may have not have applied for the newly formulated Highly Trusted Sponsor certificate and the corresponding inspection because of 20,000 clause.
Illegal migrants have been a problem in the UK for many years. The country has been concerned about migrants posing as students since a decade. In 2004, many overseas students of London School of Commerce (LSC), a private college that provides MBA and Law courses, were denied a visa by the Home Office, UK on a doubt that they were bogus students. According to the new immigration rules for students, after April 2012, they would not be able to work after completing their course from a private institution.
A few scattered groups are fighting a legal battle on behalf of the ‘affected’ schools and students. The Association of UK Schools and Colleges, which is a conglomeration of 66 schools is one such group that has taken UKBA to court. Abdul Khan, chairman of the AUKPSC said, We are fighting the UKBA for the working rights of students who are enrolled in private colleges. It is a discriminatory rule and has led to the demand for privates colleges to go down.
If in the next few days, TASMAC’s students are absorbed into other b-schools in the UK, it would temporarily close down the discussion surrounding what exactly led to TASMAC’s downfall. The larger issue of overseas students’ welfare in the UK will however remain.