Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to verify that individuals that enter the country on student visas are attending their courses.

Sponsoring institutions of international students are required to promptly report where sponsorship is withdrawn due to failure to enrol or attend classes in line with published duties to UKVI. Sponsors are required to submit an annual assessment where course completion and enrolment rates of their sponsored students are assessed against published metrics.

Where educational institutions fall below these metrics, the Home Office is entitled to take compliance action against the sponsoring institution. Those students who do not enrol or persistently fail to attend their courses also face their Student permission being cancelled.

In addition, UKVI has a range of other mechanisms available to ensure that institutions are meeting their sponsor duties, including through onsite compliance visits.