Every year Tenaganita uncovers several cases where colleges are used as fronts for foreign students to enter Malaysia before moving on to working without permits.

Its director Florida Sandanasamy said over the past 10 years, there was a steady increase of foreigners who misused their student visas.

"Yearly, we handle some 20 cases of foreigners working on tourist and student visas, and the number of people caught working with student visas is steadily rising."

She admitted that non-governmental organisations had uncovered many cases of foreigners who were brought in on student visas to feed vice and drug syndicates.

She was referring to the rising number of Africans abusing their student visas to work in the city.

On Friday, the New Straits Times reported that the Higher Education Ministry together with the Immigration Department would clamp down on foreign students who misused their visas to work.

She said scam operators and syndicates claiming to represent private colleges were preying on those intending to study abroad.

The "agents" offer attractive courses and packages which are doctored from the websites of existing private colleges on mirrorlike sites.

"When they reach Kuala Lumpur and discover the "study package" is a sham, it's often too late. Desperate to survive, they resort to working without documentation."

She said the Higher Education Ministry should keep a close eye on colleges and work together with the Immigration Department to resolve the problem.

Colleges should ensure attendance and the handing in of assignments by foreign students as these were indicators of whether they were involved in illegal activities.

Sandanasamy also said that Tenaganita found that the nonavailability of student loans and scholarships to international students was a key reason why foreign students had to work without proper permits.

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