John Moores University, Liverpool, and Liverpool Hope University confirmed yesterday that each had accepted two of the detainees and that all four students submitted diplomas from the fake college as part of their application. Both universities insisted that they had disregarded the Manchester certificates, accepting the men instead on the basis of their university degrees from Pakistan.

Liverpool Hope, which enrolled two of the students last autumn on one-year master’s business degrees, said that it was extremely difficult for any university to establish the validity of an individual college in Britain.

Graham Donelan, the university secretary, said: “We had to trust the Government’s approved list of colleges and Manchester College of Professional Studies was on that list.”

A John Moores spokeswoman confirmed that Abdul Wahab Khan and another student were studying for a master’s degree in computer network security at the university. She said that the university’s international admissions office became suspicious about Manchester College of Professional Studies more than two years ago.

“We made checks with the exam-awarding bodies which the college listed on its certificates. None of them had heard of it,” she said. “After that we stopped accepting its certificates as valid and we reported the college to the immigration authorities.”

Manchester College of Professional Studies retained its entitlement to recruit overseas students for at least a year after the university first passed on its suspicions.

The numerous scams operated by bogus institutions led the Home Office to introduce new restrictions at the beginning of last month on colleges seeking to enrol international students.

Under the old system, run by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, colleges simply had to fill in an online application form to get on the register of approved education providers. There were no inspections.

Fayaz Ali Khan duly completed an application for Manchester College of Professional Studies and was told in June 2006 that his institution was being placed on the list for an initial two years. From the start of April this year, however, no college was entitled to enrol international students unless it appeared on the new register of licensed education sponsors operated by the UK Border Agency. At a stroke, the number of approved colleges fell from 15,000 to 1,540.

To win the new sponsor status, a college must gain accreditation from one of the Border Agency’s approved bodies and will be inspected. Strict records must be kept to monitor each student’s attendance. Those who fail to enrol, drop out of their course or have prolonged absences must be reported to the Border Agency.

Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, told The Times last month that the overhaul of the student visa system formed part of “the most significant changes to our immigration system since the Second World War”.

The Home Office says that in Pakistan, which it classifies as “high risk”, additional checks are made on applicants to seek independent verification of prospective students’ qualifications. As a result, the refusal rate for student visa applications from Pakistan has risen from 53 per cent in 2006 to 69 per cent last year. Despite this, the number of Pakstani citizens in the UK on student visas has soared.

A critical flaw in the new regulations, however, means that there is still no limit on how many international students a sponsor college is allowed to enrol. It may have become more difficult to beat the system, but it is not impossible.

Numbers

Pakistanis granted visas or visa extensions to enter or remain in the UK as students:

2002 7,975

2003 12,430

2004 18,730

2005 19,175

2006 24,750

2007 26,935

Source: Times Online