WASHINGTON, May 11: The United States is instituting a new system for what amounts to heightened surveillance of the more than one million foreign nationals who are in this country attending colleges, universities and trade schools.

The new system, to be called the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System, or Sevis, will use the latest technology to link colleges and universities to the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in a centralized, rapid-access reporting network.

Announcing the new step, Attorney-General John Ashcroft said here on Friday it would make information submitted by colleges and universities — such as whether a student has enrolled, dropped out or been expelled — available centrally to the INS in a database. It would also allow schools to transmit the information electronically via the Internet.

Ashcroft said Sevis would also help to reduce student visa fraud. Under the current system, student visa forms are subject to theft and are often allegedly sold and used to support fraudulent visa applications. The new system will be implemented on a voluntary basis beginning July 1 and become mandatory on Jan 30, 2003.

Before foreign students can apply for a visa, they must establish that they have been accepted by an educational institution, which will feed their names and other information in the database.

The new system was proposed two years ago, when Ashcroft, then a senator, had opposed it.

His views have changed after Sept 11 attacks, which have led to a number of changes designed to tighten immigration rules and increase supervision of foreigners living and working here.