RIYADH: The Kingdom has assembled a panel to aid and advise about 200 Saudi students who are facing possible deportation halfway through their course due to the London Metropolitan University (LMU) being stripped of its right to sponsor non-EU students.

The cancellation of the university's license has come as a major jolt for more than 2,700 international students currently on LMU rolls who have started a campaign against the UK Border Agency's decision.

"Through its embassy in London, Saudi Arabia has set up the panel or what can be described as a working group to help Saudi students affected by the sudden decision of the UKBA," said Faisal bin Mohammed Al-Mahna Abalkhail, cultural attache at the Saudi Embassy.

The support group is in touch with British officials to advise on options for Saudi students currently facing problems at LMU, said a press statement released yesterday by the Ministry of Higher Education.

The UKBA's decision to withdraw LMU's license to accept non-EU students has meant the suspension of study and threat of deportation for the international students including all Saudi and Gulf students. The decision will also create a financial crisis for a university already struggling to stay afloat.

The agency has justified its decision and blasted the university's "systemic failure" to account for the immigration status of its international students.

Referring to the help extended by the working group, the statement said that Saudi officials would personally meet all Saudi students of the LMU with the aim of correcting their residential and educational status. "The working group will help Saudi students to find seats at other universities across the UK," said the statement, while referring to the LMU, which can no longer sponsor students from outside the EEA within the framework of the "Tier 4 UK visa".

In further developments, a task force comprising members of UK Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Universities UK, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the UK Border Agency and the National Union of Students (NUS) has also been formed to help the students.

"The UKBA will try to help appropriately qualified genuine students to find another education provider to sponsor them under the Tier 4 of the points-based system," the UKBA statement added referring to the task force.

The statement further said that "if you are a student at LMU and you are already in the UK with a current, valid Tier 4 visa, you do not need to do anything immediately." The UKBA will write to those affected after Oct. 1, the statement added.

The UKBA further added that it will ensure that international students get 60 days to file a new student application or to arrange to leave the UK, with the 60 days only taking effect the day the UKBA has contacted students.

A number of students from Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar have also been affected by the decision.

Students from the university protested at 10 Downing Street (the official residence of the prime minister) earlier this week and LMU is expected to launch some form of appeal or file a lawsuit against the decision.

Malcolm Gillies, the university’s vice chancellor, said in a report: "I would go so far as to say that UKBA has been rewriting its own guidelines on this issue and this is something which should cause concern to all universities in the UK."