A NEW group to protect the interests of Oxford’s tutorial and sixth form colleges has been launched to oppose Government visa reforms which principals say could threaten the industry.

The new Oxford Consortium of Independent Sixth Form and Tutorial Colleges represents establishments whose students bring £74m a year into the city’s economy.

The colleges say they have been forced to unite after UK Border Agency proposals to change their accreditation regime.

All members of the new group have been previously been named as “highly trusted” establishments by the UK Border Agency.

But under new proposals, they will have their student numbers capped until they have been inspected by Ofsted or the Independent Schools Inspectorate. The colleges say because they are not officially schools, they should not be regulated by either body.

Oxford International College deputy principal Fiona Pocock said: “We will no longer be able to sponsor students from outside the EU who are on full-time A-Level or other pre-university courses.

“This will inevitably have a significant effect on our business and the local economy. Some of us will close, others will have to reduce in size and in addition to the general loss of export revenue to the local economy, there will be staff and tutor redundancies.”

The colleges said their students were not immigrants, but carried British values and culture back to their home countries after spending a lot of money in the UK.