HUGH Baird college said it was bewildered last night, after being “blacklisted” in a government crackdown on bogus foreign students.

Hugh Baird College, in Bootle, has been placed on a list of 110 colleges that will be banned from accepting students from overseas.

The Home Office said it had been punished for failing to comply with new rules requiring all colleges to prove they are both providing the correct level of education and adequately monitoring overseas students.

The deadlines to apply for educational oversight (EO) and highly trusted sponsor (HTS) status were in September and October respectively.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are not saying that all of these are bogus colleges, but we are saying that all colleges have to live up to high standards."

But a spokeswoman for the college, which was born way back in 1891, as Bootle Technical School, said it had not completed the paperwork because its students were local people.

The college offers hundreds of courses to more than 7,000 students and has finished top of government league tables for Further Education Colleges for the last four years.

The spokeswoman said: "Hugh Baird College did not apply for the HTS status as, for many years, we have not received applications from overseas students."