Higher Education Assurance Team Academic Registrars Council (ARC) UKVI Practitioner’s meeting. Friday 17 April 2015 Presented by: Derek Knight.

This presentation will cover: HEAT audit schedule 2015 Changes to ways of working English Language assessment Permission to study in the UK Attendance monitoring 2

HEAT audit schedule Assessment of risk triggering action. Routine, in-licence visits. 3

Changes to ways of working. Current procedures are agreed through Co- regulation and published. Changes will be communicated through the same mechanism. Amendments needed to reflect: April 6 changes to the Tier 4 sponsor guidance and Experience during the last twenty one months. 4

English Language assessment. When assessing by an in-house test or use of overseas qualifications what will HEAT expect to see and discuss during an audit? 5

Permission to study in the UK. Pre-April 2015 guidance: In addition to your duties as a Tier 4 sponsor, you are expected to contribute to supporting immigration control. In particular, you must take reasonable steps to ensure that every student at your institution has permission to be in the UK. Failure to do this may lead to the revocation of your licence. 6

Permission to study in the UK continued. April guidance: A sponsor has a duty to comply with all aspects of the Immigration Rules and sponsor guidance, and support immigration control, including by taking steps to ensure that every student at your institution has permission to study in the UK throughout the whole period of their study. 7

Permission to study in the UK continued. HEAT reply to a university enquiry April 2015: “A SLC grant provides enough assurance on nationality for HEAT. That will be a large number of students. The university needs to show due diligence with the rest so where there may be suspicions about a student’s status, gaps in education or work history for instance, they have mechanisms for a more invasive look at that individual. They do not have to check the passport of every student as that would be beyond “taking steps”.” 8

Attendance monitoring. An active discussion at Co-regulation. HEAT have not changed advice or expectations. Audits demonstrate compliance using a host of monitoring mechanisms. It is difficult to recommend a one-fits-all method of attendance monitoring. 9

Any questions? 10