UNIVERSITIES are to be protected from a visa crackdown which could have lost them millions of pounds in fees from overseas students, it was announced yesterday.

Leading Scottish universities including Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews had protested against the plans which they warned would threaten their world-class status.

The Tory-LibDem Coalition plans to radically cut the num-ber of student visas as it attempts to slash migration to the UK.

But Home Secretary Theresa May announced yesterday that the clampdown would be "unashamedly targeted at the least trustworthy institutions" such as fake language colleges.

From this year universities will be vetted to become "highly trusted sponsors", she announced, allowing them to vouch for non-European Union students they want to educate.

However, overseas students will also have to prove they can speak English or face being turned away before they enter the country.

Tougher restrictions will also apply to those staying in the country after their course finishes – including a rule that they must find a job that pays at least £20,000 a year.

Bogus colleges which offer students "a visa not an education" will be closed, she said.

Overall, the measures should cut the number of foreign students and dependants coming to Britain by around 100,000 a year, including a 25% fall in student numbers.

Groups representing Scottish universities gave a cautious welcome to the plans yesterday but said that it would depend on how they worked in practice.

Labour warned that the threatened crackdown had already persuaded many overseas students not to apply to British institutions.

But LibDem Scottish Secretary Michael Moore, who lobbied Mrs May for the "trusted sponsor" status, said the announcement had been "timely" and created certainty ahead of the next educational year.

Overseas students provide valuable funding for universities, seen as particularly crucial as Scottish institutions face up to a potential income "black hole" of around £300 million.

Non-EU students can be charged up to £19,000 a year to study courses such as medicine.

Mrs May told MPs that while the Coalition wanted to attract the "brightest and best ... this package will stop the bogus students, studying meaningless courses at fake colleges".

"It will protect our world-class institutions."

University leaders had argued for an opt-out for Scotland, but it is understood that the Coalition considers that this would be unworkable.

Universities Scotland said that the worst of the proposals had been dropped.

Alastair Sim, director of the organisation, said: "The proposals to limit student visas announced today do not go as far as we had feared. We understand that, as highly trusted sponsors, the cuts to the number of student visas will not apply to universities. "