Students, visas and us

Contents The background The rules Our approach to compliance A School perspective Questions/discussion

What the papers said in 2012

The policy

Electoral Pledge... Definition Challenges ... to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands” by 2015 (Con, 2010) Definition The difference between the number of people entering and leaving the UK Challenges Agreeing dataset! (eg Passenger Survey) 252,000 ‘net migrants’ in 2010 Students make up the largest component EU workers are uncontrolled Emigration also affect the statistics

Context 251,334 non-EU students in the UK (HESA 2008/9) £2.2 billion in fees alone Manchester had 6,401 registered students This year Manchester = 8,700 c£130 million income...

Key policy timeline

Key policy timeline February 2008 Government introduced points-based immigration system March 2009 Tier 4 (students) introduced February 2010 End of visa letters and introduction of the Sponsor Management System (SMS) April 2010 Restriction on courses offered unless ‘Highly Trusted Status’ March 2011 All HEIs must achieve Highly Trusted Status

Key policy timeline April 2011 New accreditation by statutory body criteria for sponsors New English language requirements July 2011 Sponsors need to vouch for academic progression for studies of same or lower academic level October 2011 UKBA publishes list of unsatisfactory financial institutions, affecting students from India, Pakistan & the Philippines needing to prove finances April 2012 Visa limit of five years for study on taught degrees Tier 1 (post study work) closed Provision made for student ‘entrepreneurs’

Criteria for Highly Trusted Sponsor Status Mandatory Criteria Visa refusal rate Less than 20% Enrolment rate Higher than 90% Course completion rate More than 85% Declaration of academic progression 100% Core Measurable Requirements Start with 100 points. Must score more than 70 out of 100 Refusal rate Max 20 points deducted if more than 15% Enrolment rate Max 15 points deducted if below 93% Course completion rate Max 15 points deducted if below 90%

Compliance

Admissions Has always been about academic viability but now also... Visa eligibility - Prior UK study/immigration history - Viable English level Reporting to the UKBA - Visa refusals - Fraudulent applications

On arrival Passport checks - Correct sponsor - Correct visa type - Expiry date Verification of original qualifications Reporting to the UKBA - No shows

Once studying Attendance monitoring - Ten points of expected contact - Are they studying? - ‘Do you know where they are?’ Managing the population through visa expiry dates Reporting to the UKBA - Withdrawals - Interruptions And at any point....inspector calls?

For all the above UNIAC audits (two) found us wanting population selection for monitoring exercise has been a challenge (but we’re getting there) impact on student experience and all the additional work...

A School perspective

A School perspective Size of the task - Recent work undertaken to ensure compliance - Challenges - Are we doing things right? – the fear of getting it wrong Conflict of priorities Partnership Positive benefits The future

Ongoing challenges to policy - are students migrants?

Thank you