Page 23 - ELG1802 Feb Issue 454

SPECIAL FEATURE . Centre SPECIAL FEATURE

Brazil Ministry

Manager Esol Jim Larrison

General UK students National

Senior College
ELT Russia University Deputy

teacher State Spain Language

teacher
Lecturer
Trainer China British Council
France
Department Mexico

Head Deputy UAE Germany Academic Ccountry studying in an English- Know your and won. Immigration law has not changed
hina loves immersion programmes.
The institution fought the issue in court
The system of spending three or
four months in an English-speaking
but lawyers suggest that officials will normally
allow entry for small groups of students if it is
Australia Project Specialist students is not only popular with parents but visas for a just for short periods of two to three weeks,
speaking school with local English-speaking
without breaking the law.
College Ielts Italy supported by the Chinese government, too. successful wanting to attend the same school for three
Large groups of 100 or more students
However, such schemes are not always
ELLs English Japan Adviser so well-received by foreign governments, trip or four months have no choice but to go to a
fee-charging school or a language school.
especially in Europe. EU law mandates that
any child of EU citizens is legally entitled
Many Chinese consider British boarding
schools their first, if not only, choice. But
to study for free in any state school in any
Turkey General Rector member country. European-style school Working out which schools there are only 485 fee-charging boarding
schools in England and a handful in Scotland
exchanges, where small groups of ten to
twenty students go abroad for two to three
and Wales. The Republic of Ireland has just
Agency Director Argentina weeks, are wildly popular, especially within you can legally attend can 29. And while many boarding schools are
happy to accept a Chinese student or two for
English-speaking countries.
However, most state-school children in
ten weeks, almost none of them can manage
Professor Faculty Supervisor the UK drop foreign languages at the age be a minefield, Melanie large numbers. According to the Independent
Butler writes
of fourteen, while in Ireland, the other
Schools Council, the average British boarding
big English-speaking destination, foreign
schools has 440 students, 150 of whom are
languages are not compulsory. So demand
for English-speaking exchanges far outstrips schools around England. Young students boarders. Class sizes are tiny, with twenty
students or even less.
on those courses are almost certainly in the
supply. Demand for school exchanges from country illegally and could be turned back at How on Earth can schools of this size
outside the EU is also high, but European the airport when they arrive in the UK. If accommodate 150 visiting Chinese for three
governments are not keen to embrace these found studying at state schools, these students months? Both in Britain and Ireland there is
programmes. Neither the UK nor Ireland has can be deported, even when they are part of a room for growth in the fee-charging day-
a visa that allows non-EU students to attend legitimate school-exchange programme. school sector. There are only around thirty in
state schools, even for a week or two. In 2015 ten Chinese children were refused Ireland against a whopping 2,000 institutions
The US has always enthusiastically entry to the UK to join a short exchange in England. However, school and class sizes
welcomed high-school exchanges and the programme with a state secondary school in are small. When it comes to the immersion
State Department offers a well-established London. courses, size matters.
year-long programme on a J-1 Exchange
Visitor Visa, which includes free high-school UK Immigration rules
places and free host families.
Other F-1 Student Visa programmes also ‘The following children are not entitled, by immigration law, to enter the
allow students to attend state-run high country to attend a state-funded school.
schools for shorter periods as long as they
cover the whole cost. In the UK, by contrast, n Children from non-EEA countries who are here as short-term visitors -
it is illegal for unaccompanied children these are children who live abroad but have been admitted to the UK for a
from outside the EU to attend state schools, short visit (for example as tourists or to visit relatives).
whether they pay or not, as you can see from
the visa rules on this page. In Ireland the
n Children from non-EEA countries who have entered the country on a Tier
Who reads the ? same rules apply. 4 visa - these children are allowed to study in England on the basis
The English law does not appear to stop
that they attend an independent, fee-paying school listed in the
the Chinese. In fact, there are a number of
register of Tier 4 licensed sponsors.’
Source: www.gov.uk
agencies placing Chinese children in state
22 February 2018 editorial@elgazette.com 23