UK university shut for preaching visa fraud

London, Oct 23: The 120-year-old University of Wales, which was recently in news for validating degrees at colleges where controversial practices were revealed affecting many students from India, among others, has been abolished.

An Indian-origin lecturer at the Rayat London college was recently filmed in an undercover investigation advising students on how to cheat Britain's immigration officials while securing a work visa.

Its degrees were validated by the University of Wales.

Many Indian students were stranded when the Tasmac London School of Business, which also offered degrees validated by the University of Wales, closed down.

Efforts were made to accommodate the stranded students in other colleges.

The University also received criticism for the working of two institutions in Malaysia and Thailand where its degrees were offered without the necessary clearances or standards.

Now the scandal-hit university has been abolished after it merged with two colleges to form the new University of Wales Trinity St David university.

University of Wales council chairman Hugh Thomas resigned after the merger decision. Medwin Hughes, the vice-chancellor of the merged university, said it was a 'strong brand'.

Hughes said students in the UK and beyond would still be able to finish a University of Wales degree. Once the merger has taken place, new degrees would bear the name of the new university, he said.

PTI