The figures of the UK High Commission in Dhaka in 2005 show there were 6,944 student visa applications of which only 2,857 applications were granted.

Although the number of UK student visa applications nearly tripled in the last five years, the success rate of applications declined from 52 percent to 37.5 percent.

This huge refusal rate was mainly due to the submission of forged documents by the visa applicants, their unreliable funding sources and bank documents. Moreover, the embassies think most of them have intention of not coming back after finishing study.

These figures were disclosed at a dialogue on "Migration to the UK from Bangladesh: Opportu-nities and Constraints" at the British Council auditorium on May 4.

The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), Dhaka University organised the dialogue under the 'Transnationalism and Develop-ment' project in collaboration with the British Council and the British High Commission.

Research fellows of RMMRU shared their research findings on labour and student migration with the participants at the dialogue.

Research fellow Siobhán McPhee said the UK labour market currently needs skilled nurse, plumbers, electricians, doctors, teachers, and semi-skilled and low-skilled workers in the food and hospitality sectors.

But this information is almost inaccessible to the potential migrant workers to UK due to lack of information from labour attaché in Bangladesh High Commission in London and lack of vocational training in Bangla-desh which is restricting potential migrants, said McPhee.

The research findings also stated that migration to the UK is now based on points system arranged in five tiers. The new system is not benefiting Bangla-desh or the UK as it restricts migration opportunities. The system itself is a complicated process that encourages fraud and other forms of irregular migration.

An improved migration system must be developed to fight irregularities in the process since UK is the fourth largest source of remittance for Bangladesh, the researchers said.

In her presentation on the student migration from Bangla-desh to UK, research fellow Penelope Anthias said the access of information regarding student visa to UK varies according to social class and for applicants from Dhaka and outside the city.

Schools and colleges in Bangladesh provide insufficient information about foreign education and most students are reluctant to approach British Council, which is the most honest source of information, she said.

The researchers said private counselling agencies can play a useful role in this regard but most of these agencies are engaged in fraudulent practices. These agencies provide the applicants with forged bank documents, offer letters, certificates and transcripts.

Besides, they charge high rates for processing UK student visa. They sometimes pay bank managers to answer the phone inquiries from British High Commission about any appli-cant. They help many unfit students to apply for UK visa.

Only a few of these are genuine and the others are carrying out the unscrupulous business in absence of a regulatory body, the researchers alleged.

They said the fraudulent agencies are being helped by some fake UK colleges and other institutions, mainly located in East London with few small rooms and inadequate facilities. They do not offer proper courses.

The researchers added that out of 1,200 colleges inspected in UK in 2005, around 300 were found to be unfit to take foreign students and many of these are affiliated with agencies in Bangladesh.

Almost all discussants agreed that there must be a monitoring body for the agencies and the visa applicants should have greater access to information about the UK educational institutions providing quality services.

Jonathan Verney, first secretary of immigration, British High Commission, emphasised the need for a list of approved agents who can help students in visa processing.

This dialogue was moderated and coordinated by Dr Tasneem Siddiqui, professor of political science and coordinator, Transn-ationalism and Development project, RMMRU.

Richard Sunderland, deputy director of exams, British Council, Nurul Islam, director, research, monitoring and computer, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training, Ripa Walie, education promotion and marketing manager of British Council, and KM Mazharul Islam, operation manager to the Bangladesh liaison office of London Metropolitan University, among others, spoke at the dialogue.