Daily Times

In the United Kingdom (UK), the UK Border Agency (UKBA) is an agency of the Home Office that looks after the UK’s immigration affairs including student visas. After the change of government in the UK from Labour to Conservative in May 2010, a secret pilot study was conducted by the UKBA on the direction of Home Secretary Theresa May. The apparent objectives of the study were based on an assumption that immigrant workers were coming to the UK in the guise of students. The study differentiated a bogus applicant from a genuine one on the basis of a student’s English speaking (and comprehension) abilities. The study targeted Pakistani students and found out that Pakistani students falsely proved their English proficiency through the ‘paperwork’ they had submitted, as about 48 percent of them coming to the UK could not speak English. Hence, they have the potential to become illegal immigrant workers and should be denied entry to the UK. The results of the study were generalised on the students of other countries and new student visa rules were introduced on April 6, 2012. Under the new rules, the Tier 4 (a points-based system) was introduced for all overseas students. However, face-to-face interviews were made compulsory for all Pakistani students to be conducted at the British High Commission in Pakistan.

A major flaw in any secret pilot study is that the objectives of the study are not revealed to the respondents, and thus a formal response is not evoked. Hence, the results of such a study are always doubtful. The second flaw in the study is that it is based on the assumption that a student who can speak English fluently will definitely study in the UK and will not abandon studies to become an immigrant worker. This simplistic view renders the objectives of the study questionable.

Interestingly, while revealing its results, the study used the word ‘paperwork’ and not the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) certificates or Test Report Form (TRF) issued by the British Council (BC) and its associates (who arrange the IELTS) in Pakistan. That is, the study deliberately hid the fact that it was the BC and its associates who were responsible for carrying out the sub-standard IELTS to declare the English language proficiency of Pakistani students. Mostly, the IELTS requirements of the UK’s universities fall between the 5.5 and 7.0 band score.

How is it possible that Pakistani students be blamed for presenting the paperwork incongruent with their language proficiency expressed in the IELTS’ band score when the paperwork is issued by none other than the BC? The students who did not have any IELTS’ certificate could be spotted easily and no student produced any fake IELTS certificate. Hence, another secret pilot study should be launched to find out how come the BC collects thousands of rupees in the name of fees to conduct an IELTS test (and pays no tax to the Pakistani government) but issues certificates of success to those who are not proficient in English. Secondly, how can the BC in Pakistan be exonerated from the allegation of crime against the visa policies of the UK and, instead, why are Pakistani students being accused?

It is not understandable what harm the British Home Office saw in conducting the pilot study openly. The secret pilot study has produced adverse psychological effects on Pakistani students. The overseas Pakistani students are now fearful of any new secret pilot study, if it is conducted, to target them on any other pretext. No doubt, the UK has a right to curb the immigration trend but it has no right to malign Pakistani students. The British Home Office should have questioned the authenticity of the IELTS and doubted the performance claims of the BC in Pakistan before it pointed an accusing finger at Pakistani students. In principle, the results of the secret pilot study could have been kept secret and a general survey could have been launched overtly to verify the findings of the pilot study. Certainly, research ethics were not observed because the intention was to slander Pakistani students.

According to a survey conducted by an organisation, Friends of Pakistani Students, based in London and having branches in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, incidents of harassment of Pakistani students are on the rise in 2013. Pakistani students are now considered easy prey to be intimidated and censured by both classfellows and British professors. Sadly, the Pakistan government is still silent on the insult of Pakistani students (and ultimately of Pakistan) because of the malicious role of the British Home Office.

In early 2007, a group of Pakistani (post-graduate) students studying at different top ranking universities (three of Scotland and five of England) of the UK twice tried to meet Dr Maleeha Lodhi, the then Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK, to bring to her notice the fact that they had been hoodwinked by the paperwork of the universities into seeking admission to them and that the universities were running certain bogus courses just to fleece them. The students wanted to bring everything on record through the involvement of the Pakistan High Commission in London. Unfortunately, Dr Lodhi not only refused to meet them to let them discuss the issue in detail but (reportedly) she also rebuked them and asked them to submit to the dictates of the universities.

If Dr Lodhi had paid heed to their hue and cry and brought the matter to the notice of the UK government, the British Home Office could have rectified the faults of its top ranking universities first before launching any secret pilot study to smear Pakistani students. The point is simple: when Pakistani ambassadors are keen on enjoying the British socio-cultural way of life, how can they help Pakistani students. Mental subjugation and psychological subservience of Pakistani ambassadors to the governments of western countries have inflicted humiliation and embarrassment on Pakistanis several times.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com