LONDON - More than 450 colleges have been banned from taking foreign students and 11,000 fewer international students are accepted in the UK as part of a clampdown on visas, reported Sky News on Wednesday. Some of the institutions had their licences revoked for not being able to produce lists of the students enrolled, timetables or records of attendance. Others failed to sign up to a new inspection system designed to reduce abuse. The government has also blacklisted 2,500 banks and deemed them untrustworthy at verifying the financial circumstances of prospective students. The list includes 1,977 Indian banks, 792 in the Philippines and three in Pakistan. British Immigration Minister Damian Green said the governments reforms were 'beginning to bite. Too many institutions were offering international students an immigration service rather than an education and too many students have come to the UK with the aim of getting work and bringing over family members, he said. Only first-class education providers should be given licences to sponsor international students. We have curbed the opportunities to work during study and bring in family members. We have also introduced new language requirements to ensure we only attract genuine students whose primary motivation is to study. Shortly before the stricter language rules were introduced, there was a spike in applicants from South Asia, prompting an investigation into 119 colleges. The UK Border Agency said 51 lost their licences, three had them suspended and nine were given new ratings. A total of 45 were found to be abiding by the rules and 11 subject to further consideration. Between June 2010 and June 2011, 304,548 student visas were issued which included 33,342 dependents such as family members. A further 36,018 visa extensions were granted. The attempt to stamp out abuse of the system was welcomed by Universities UK but its chief executive, Nicola Dandridge, warned it was essential the UK appeared 'open for business for genuine foreign students. International students contribute massively to UK Universities, both academically and culturally, and contribute over five billion pounds to the UK economy through tuition fees and off-campus expenditure, she said. This is a success story for the UK, but there is no shortage of global competition. She said the UK could not afford to make the 'ill-thought-out cuts the United States and Australian made which affected their competitiveness.