The UK
Spending Review
Government cuts announced in the Spending Review will mean that the UKBA’s budget will be reduced by 20% over the next four years. The Home Office has said that the cuts will be met by reducing support costs in the UK Border Agency and improving productivity and value for money from commercial suppliers. The agency will also invest in new technologies to secure the border and control migration at a lower cost. An increasing proportion of the costs of controlling immigration and securing the border will be met by migrants and visitors to the UK. By taking these measures, the agency will save around £500m.
Linked to this, the Ministry of Justice has stated that migrants and asylum seekers will have to pay for appeals against decisions made over their cases, whether or not they are successful. The Ministry of Justice said that last year it cost £115m to run the immigration appeals system. Fees will apply to appeals against decisions refusing someone leave to remain, leave to enter, or vary their current leave to remain in the UK. Fees are expected to range between £60 and £250 dependent on the type of appeal. Some people may be excluded from paying the fees, including those who qualify for legal aid, those who are receiving asylum support and applicants who are in the asylum “detained fast track process”. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Migrants has argued that migrants already contribute through application fees. The Home Office said that the UK Border Agency accumulated £750m a year from people applying for visas to visit, work, study or settle in the UK. Currently, the immigration and asylum tribunals system does not charge an appeal fee. Costs are met by the taxpayer, via the Ministry of Justice.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11598677
Colleges protest over Ministers comments on further education
Comments by the immigration minister, Damian Green, that international students applying for further education (FE) courses “may, or frankly may not be the brightest and the best” have triggered protests from principals of the UK’s larger colleges. They claim that the minister should update his knowledge of what FE is all about. Green’s remarks have caused concern that vocationally orientated international students will be discriminated against.
Bradford College’s principal, Michele Sutton, said "We don't think students get a lesser experience or a lesser qualification – and we don't believe they're worse quality students. We've had students who've gone on to make a massive impact, not just on their families and communities but also on the wider world."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/oct/04/visa-international-students-foreign-colleges
Immigration cap may harm UK research
Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive of Universities UK has warned that the UK immigration cap being proposed by the Coalition Government will seriously affect the recruitment of highly skilled staff to UK universities and in turn, the provision of courses for UK students. Overseas competitors are watching and will be ready to attract international staff and students deterred by negative perceptions of the UK visa system. Over 10% of academic staff at universities are non-EU nationals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/oct/12/universities-rely-on-international-staff
Tier 1 under threat?
A study published by the UK Border Agency reveals that around a third of the Tier 1 people sampled are being employed in lower skilled jobs. In what sounds like a threat to the continuation of the current Tier 1 schemes, Immigration Minister Damian Green said:
'While it is important that low-skilled jobs are filled, there are hundreds of thousands of British people who could be doing them instead of a migrant.
'Those coming into the UK under the highly skilled migrant route should only be able to do highly skilled jobs - it should not be used as a means to enter the low-skilled jobs market.
'Investors and entrepreneurs aside, this report questions the value of this route into the UK, and the findings will play a key part in discussions on how the annual limit will be shaped.'
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/pbs-tier-1/pbs-ter-1/pbs-tier-1.pdf?view=Binary
New interactive forms for in-country applications
A new service for in-country applications has been recently launched by the UK Border Agency. The process represents first steps towards providing for online applications but for Tier 4, it only allows for the appropriate form to be identified, downloaded, completed and submitted as at present.
http://apply.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/popup/popup.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=howToIntelligent&
Renewal of annual allocations of Tier 2 Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS)
Sponsors should respond to reminders from the UKBA concerning the renewal of their annual allocation even though they will not receive an allocation whilst the interim limit is in place. Failure to submit a renewal request may cause the Tier 2 part of the sponsor licence to become inactive.
News from abroad
China plans to rival the West.
Beijing’s Peking University has embarked on a programme which has already brought a new, two-wing teaching hospital, an economics faculty, a centre for Executive MBAs and an English language school as part of a long term plan to rival the world’s top universities.
"China - unlike Britain, perhaps - understands that investing in top-quality university education is essential for its future economic development," said Yojana Sharma, Asia editor of University World News.
The Ministry of Education has stated that he wants to double the number of foreign students to 150,000 by 2010, transforming China into the largest provider of education to international students in Asia. A report by the British Council’s International Education Intelligence Unit identified China as a “competitive threat to the UK”. Even if China’s emergence as a university superpower is still 10-20 years away, the gap is narrowing year by year.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/ULTIMATE+UNIV+BRAIN+DRAIN/3712991/story.html
Australia’s plan to attract foreign students
As a result to a considerable fall in international student numbers, vice chancellors are calling for a special student visa and proposing that foreign students should be taken out of the immigration statistics.
The Australian international student market has been affected by bad publicity from attacks on Indian students, the high Australian dollar and competition from the US and the UK.
The new visa would allow foreign students to stay in Australia during their degree plus two or three years’ work experience in a related filed. This aims to depoliticise the debate by dissociating study from migration. An interesting approach in the light of the current debate about students and migrant numbers in the UK.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/vice-chancellors-call-for-student-visas/story-e6frgcjx-1225940876697
New TOEFL Junior Test for Younger Students
Students aged 11 to 14 years who are studying English as a foreign language now take Educational Testing Service’s (ETS) TOEFL Junior Test, a global assessment of middle school-level English language proficiency. The test contains three sections: Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension and Language Form and Meaning.
http://frontierindia.net/now-toefl-junior-test-to-guide-english-learning-for-younger-students
Veristat Services
For support in complying with UKBA requirements see our website www.veristat.co.uk and contact us at enquiries@veristat.co.uk Veristat provides a wide range of services to education providers through compliance audits, advice packages, assessment of intent and recruitment. Please contact us for a no commitment discussion if you think you would benefit from any of these services.
