The South Shields campus in St George's Avenue has more than 750 foreign students studying in the borough.

Under tougher immigration rules, designed to tackle bogus applications, overseas students coming to the UK will need biometric identity cards.

The first students having to give fingerprints will be those applying for visas and extensions from November 25, and from outside the European Union.

Gary Hindmarch, head of South Tyneside College's marine department, where most overseas pupils are studying, said: "We welcome the introduction of the tightened immigration rules.

"They will ensure that genuine students applying to study in the UK can be separated from those who enter the UK illegally each year.

"Overseas students contribute a significant amount to the national and local economies in the UK, and the new rules fully recognise this contribution.

"The rules will require that colleges and universities record student attendance, but as we already do this now for all our learners, we don't believe this will pose a problem to either ourselves or the students."

However, Mr Hindmarch does fear it could cause unnecessary costs and delays for genuine students.

He added: "We would hope that the new procedures don't delay students either at the application stage or when they need to renew or extend their visas.

"These extra delays and associated costs are very annoying to all involved.

"The Border Agency has also stated they require each student to have £800 living expenses for each month of their course, excluding course fees, which is significantly higher than for similar UK students attending universities around the UK.

"It is vital we retain the valuable contribution overseas students give to the UK economy each year."

The Government says overseas students pay tuition fees worth £2.5bn per year.

The Home Office's tightening of border controls, set out earlier this year, will include the requirement to "check and record the fingerprints of any applicants applying for a student visa".

All students allowed to come here will need to obtain a biometric identity card.

The Home Office expects 50,000 to 60,000 students to be affected in the first phase between now and March.

Last year, there were 313,000 applications for student visas – of which 217,000 were issued.

Existing students won't be affected by the changes unless they want to extend their visa.

From next March, overseas students will need to be sponsored by a college or university holding a licence from the UK Border Agency.

From next autumn, there will also be a further tightening of the rules, in which universities and colleges will use a "sponsor management system" to inform the UK Border Agency if students are failing to attend courses.