Telugu body approaches US varsity seeking admission for UNVA students

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A US-based Telugu association has approached the University of Southern Mississippi, requesting it to induct hundreds of Indian students from a Northern Virginia institute which was recently raided by federal authorities on charges of fraud.

"USM (University of Southern Mississippi) authorities have responded very positively and (are) willing to help in transferring eligible students without compromising the quality of the education or the guidelines of the admission process," Prasad Thotakura, President of the Telugu Association of North America (TANA), said in a statement.

The University of Northern Virginia (UNVA), which is based in Annandale -- a suburb of Washington, has some 2,400 students, of whom 90 per cent are said to be Indians, with an overwhelming majority from Andhra Pradesh.

It has been served a notice by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement of their intent to withdraw the authorisation for foreign students.

Dozens of officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), entered the Annandale campus of the university on Thursday and took away with them a number of boxes full of documents and computer hard drives.

Earlier in January, US authorities raided and shut down Tri-Valley University in California on charges of massive immigration fraud, affecting over 1,500 Indian students.

Thotakura said students from India in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular must do their own research about universities in the US and be very careful in selecting the right accredited institutes before they enroll.

"They must follow the rules and regulations of such educational institutions and there are no short cuts in getting the quality education except attending classes regularly and working hard," he said.

USM, a 100-year-old university, offers undergraduate and graduate degree programmes in Computer Science, Arts & Letters, Business, Education & Psychology, Health and Science & Technology.

It has a diverse student body of approximately 17,000 students, with students from all over the US and 70 foreign countries.