Overseas students in push to clear names over English test 'cheating'

Thousands were forced to leave UK in apparent miscarriage of justice

- Amelia Gentleman

International students accused of cheating at English language tests are planning a fresh push to clear their names 10 years on, with thousands thought to have been victims of a gross miscarriage of justice, in a case that has drawn parallels with the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Important new evidence has recently been presented in court raising fresh questions over the Home Office's decision to make a blanket accusation of cheating against more than 35,000 students, which led to thousands being thrown off their courses and forced out of the country.

A decade ago this weekend, the BBC broadcast a Panorama investigation which uncovered widespread cheating in Home Office-approved centres offering English language tests that international students were required to pass as part of their visa renewal process.

Theresa May, the then home secretary, called the BBC report "shocking" and asked the US-based test provider, Educational Testing Service (ETS), to investigate. It concluded 97% of the tests taken in the UK between 2011 and 2014 were in some way suspicious and the Home Office cancelled the visas of about 35,000 students.

Immigration enforcement teams mounted dawn raids on students' accommodation and about 2,500 were deported. Another 7,200 are known to have left the country after being warned they would be arrested and detained if they stayed. Many more had to give up degree courses, wasting thousands of pounds in fees.

But thousands of students have protested that they were wrongly accused of cheating, and have spent years arguing that the evidence presented against them is flawed and thin. More than 3,600 have won appeals against the Home Office.

Many more have been unable to attempt to clear their names because of the prohibitive cost of legal action.