'Bogus' foreign students excluded from university

Universities were yesterday warned to look out for bogus foreign students with forged documents after a leading institution revealed it had expelled 50 who had faked papers.

Newcastle University said it has excluded 49 students from China and one from Taiwan after their documents were found to be falsified.

Newcastle warned other universities to be vigilant, saying that it believed high-quality forged certificates which could not be detected by the usual checks were "circulating widely".

The expulsions came after The Independent revealed leading educationalists were concerned that universities were lowering standards for foreign students because they had become over-reliant on their fees.

Newcastle University said it regretted having to exclude the students because many of them appeared to be victims of bogus "agents", based either in China or the UK, who were paid to submit applications, including supporting documents, on their behalf.

Newcastle University has informed the Home Office and the police and said that it believed other academic institutions could be affected.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office could not confirm whether other universities had been affected.