A beauty college says new Government rules on foreign students will take cash out of the county’s economy.

Bosses at Witney’s Oxford International College of Beauty say they have been forced to stop taking students from outside the EU as applying for new accreditation is too expensive.

The Witan Way college is one of seven in Oxfordshire which have lost their right to accept international students after deciding not to apply for new licences.

The 21-year-old college, which has 50 pupils on its roll, previously took students from as far away as America, Africa, Japan and Hong Kong.

Principal Erika Oswin said just two years after paying £5,000 to apply for the previous accreditation scheme she decided it was not worth applying for the new licence, which would cost between £11,000 and £25,000.

Ms Oswin said: “We had to think whether it is worth it for maybe a couple of students a year.

“For a small business it is a fair amount of money.”

She added: “I feel very disappointed. David Cameron is our local MP and he has actually been here in the past so he could see what the facilities are.

“He said how impressed he was with the business.”

She said students paid £8,500 a year in fees for beauty and body therapy qualifications.

Ms Oswin said: “Nearly 500 colleges have withdrawn from the new accreditation system, and I am sure the majority are just like us. They are independent specialist schools, who have been hit more than anybody.”

Concerns from border officials about foreign students abusing the system to gain entry to the country were unfounded, she said.

She added: “People do not come here to run off. I have never had a student disappear. They come to get good qualifications and to be educated near Oxford and in an English speaking country. They do not stay because they cannot be employed on their visas anyway.

“The sad thing is they will now go elsewhere – and they already are.”

Her calls echo complaints from Oxford’s language colleges, estimated to be worth £74m a year to the local economy each year.

They say the Government’s drive to tighten up student visas and close bogus colleges is driving thousands of wealthy youngsters away from the UK.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “Widespread abuse of the student visa system has gone on for too long which is why we’ve made changes to ensure only first-class education providers should be given licences to sponsor international students.”