Dear member
Students in the news
There have been two desperately depressing incidents in the press this month - which just go to remind us that whilst the vast majority of international students get an excellent experience in the UK, some hit appalling problems and it can appear that neither systems nor agencies exist to help.
- The first was the story of the 20-30 students who apparently each paid over £10,000 to an immigration advisor who promised to get them a Tier 2 job and visa – only to find that the whole thing had been a scam. Their applications were refused but more damagingly they were accused of deception (as they had signed the applications themselves), they have no jobs, their money is lost and no-one seems to be available to offer support and compensation.
- The second is once again a situation where a Tier 4 sponsor has had their licence revoked (apparently for breaching the 10% visa refusal limit) and all their non-EU students had their visas curtailed although, as far as we are aware, none of them had done anything wrong. But what makes this even worse for them – who obviously wish to complete their courses at another provider – is the recent change in the rules which says that as the revoked college is not an HEI, they have to leave the UK within their 60 day limit and then re-apply to a different college from home. One wonders whether they will do having had this experience?
The UK Asian has taken a particular interest in the first story (though we have no idea if all the facts and allegations are entirely correct) and the BBC in the second.
Both stories underline the point, of course, that students need access to good advice to avoid them being taken for a ride or to give expert help when things go wrong and just how important is the work so many of you do to help students avoid the pitfalls or pick up the pieces when things go wrong.
Members Forums
Talking of students, one of the highlights of our Members Forum event in Manchester last week - and indeed a previous one in Edinburgh – was our international student panel with students speaking very openly and quite wisely (and at times inspiringly) about their own personal experiences. Every day things from dealing with bus timetables and public transport, which some said was completely alien to them, to (for one) arriving in the UK with virtually no English whatsoever and progressing through the system to an MSc in Aeronautical Engineering!
As we wade through the voluminous Tier 4 rules and regulations it is quite easy to overlook some of the more obvious but essential points about the reality of the ‘student journey’ and it was a great reminder of the advice and support they need but also just how much ability and motivation these students have to apply, to adapt and to succeed.
We have a similar event in London on Tuesday 15 March – an opportunity to discuss every aspect of our work from visas to orientation programmes to new project initiatives to ‘student in crisis’ – so do please come along. It is open to anyone from any member institution.
UKCISA Online Forum
But for those who cannot come along, our members online discussion forum provides another way in which important issues can be raised. Currency controls in Nigeria, visa issues and work placements, Immigration Health Charge problems, CAS issuing processes, preparing students to return home, job vacancies and of course the new Tier 4 forms. As you will have seen we have picked up on all your comments on these and fed them back in to UKVI and a number of changes and improvements have already been made.
(We recognise that some find the forum a little clunky to use – and something we will wish to look at again in the future – but it is a confidential space (unlike the previous jiscmail), a great resource and really helpful to identify problems or raise issues of good practice so please do ‘tune in’ whenever you can and contribute).
Visa (and student support) policies
- Any more substantial issues we will raise at the next meeting of the Home Office’s Education Sector Forum (on 18 March) and one of the main items on the agenda is likely to be the recent recommendations from the Migration Advisory Committee on changes to Tier 2 which could/would have very substantial consequences for Tier 4 students hoping to switch in-country.
- In parallel though the Scottish Affairs Committee has just published a pretty comprehensive and trenchant report on Post-Study Work (and a second by the Scottish Parliament) and there is clearly a real movement in Scotland, supported by the education sector but also business and community associations to argue for a special case, given their population decline and labour market. It would be great to see this opening out a new line of argument and some new possibilities.
- Besides work related issues we must wait to see if any new proposals are raised when we meet – we know of none apart from a few which were floated in the second half of last year. (See my e-news from last month.) It has gone a little quiet in the policy section in the last month or so with two of the main officials being transferred to EU related duties and I suppose it is just possible that the spotlight has, not surprisingly, now moved on to those for the time being?
- Speaking of Scotland they have again been in the news and in the forefront of things with changes to their regulations just passed to make certain Syrians eligible to ‘home fees’ and student support if coming to the UK under the Vulnerable Persons scheme. In other parts of the UK of course that is not the case although we understand that at least 20 UK universities have established some form of special schemes to assist – and we will be talking more about this at the ‘International Higher Education Forum’ on 1 March. I am told however that uptake for these schemes has not been huge as yet and more work clearly needs to be done to overcome some hurdles and obstacles (many of them presumably visa related) if the UK is to make a significant contribution in this area.
UKCISA Annual Conference
All of this, of course, and much, much more will be discussed and debated at our Annual Conference at the University of Sheffield (29 June to 1 July) and many thanks indeed to all of you who have submitted over 50 session proposals which we will be sifting through and assessing over the next couple of weeks. It has been a great response ranging over every facet of international student life and promises to be a really significant event.
- And by way of sneak preview……. I can tell you that in addition to these (and a personal welcome address by Sheffield’s Vice Chancellor) I have just had confirmation that one of our keynote speakers will be Paul Blomfield MP (the local MP for Sheffield Central) who has been one of the most prominent and forthright commentators on international student issues in Parliament.
- And another will be our President, Lord Karan Bilimoria, again a leading spokesperson for international students, who will give the opening address (and as Chairman of Cobra Beer has very kindly offered to supply plenty of sponsorship ‘in kind’ to refresh our discussions!).
All three have very strong views on the critical importance of international students to the UK and the merits of our current policies so do please put the dates in your diaries now and come along to what promises to be a fascinating series of sessions, possibly fascinatingly timed just some days after an EU referendum! ! You will be able to book to attend when the programme is published in early April.
New website, new look, new features
But perhaps the biggest news this week is of course the launch of our new responsive website for students so that all can access and browse more easily on mobiles and tablets and use a whole range of new features such as the Newswall, student blogs and indeed this monthly update of mine.
We hope everyone will find it much more attractive, swifter, intuitive and clear - so please do try it out and encourage others to do so. If you have a spare few minutes to share your thoughts on it we’d be very grateful if you would complete our survey either via the website pop up or at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ukcisa.
Best wishes
Dominic
Dominic Scott
Dominic Scott, Chief Executive
UK Council for International Student Affairs
chiefexec@ukcisa.org.uk
