The Department of Education withdrew recognition of Medway College, a private college, in February of this year. The move left over 300 non-E.U. students in a financial quandary, as their work visas could not be renewed.
The Department of Education withdrew recognition of Medway College, a private college, in February of this year. The move left over 300 non-E.U. students in a financial quandary, as their work visas could not be renewed.
Medway College, situated on North Cumberland Street, with offices on Lower Abbey Street, opened in 2006, under the directorship of Peter Offwood, from Buckinghamshire, and Sukhvinder Singh Bansal, from Middlesex.
Business and other courses are offered at the college, whose awards come from such bodies as City and Guilds, ECDL and the Association of Business Executives.
Some of the courses received official recognition from the Department of Education and Science, allowing them to be listed on the internationalisation register of approved programmes. Non-E.U students on these courses qualify for visas permitting them to work part-time for 20 hours a week during term time.
However, the college was removed from the register in February following inspectors’ reports of non-compliance with the criteria for inclusion on the register. Mr. Offwood stated that concerns were raised about the attendance of classes and the relatively low number of awards made. The college has appealed the decision. Mr. Offwood declared, “The college is being penalised instead of the students who did not attend their lectures.” He maintained that everything had been done to encourage students to attend classes, “Letters were sent and students were warned they would be expelled if they didn’t attend.”
The withdrawal of recognition by the Department has left more than 300 overseas students stranded. “Some of us barely have enough for food and we don’t know who to go to,” one student said.
The largest group of students are from Mauritius and had been encouraged to enrol in Medway by a college representative who had visited the island. Their spokesperson claimed that many had borrowed heavily to come here and study. Students are demanding a refund of fees. The college says that it has already returned up to EUR 130,000 to students. Despite making a pre-tax profit of nearly EUR 300,000 in the year up to March 2007, it claims that it ran out of money in February and has been relying on financial support from the directors to keep it going since.
The Department has insisted that the removal from the register did not affect the status of existing students, but would mean that new students, or students seeking a renewal of their visas, would not be given access to employment, unless they were on a programme on the register. Information on student and work Visas is available from www.citizensinformation.ie
