News - from the College and the Students
December 6th2008 - Academics attack 'spying' plan
- Source - Guardian
University lecturers are warning that they do not want to become "immigration officers" in the enforcement of tougher rules on student visas.
From next year, universities will be expected to monitor whether overseas students are really attending courses.
Sally Hunt, head of the University and College Union, says staff do not want to enter the "spying game".
Overseas students will have to be fingerprinted, in a drive to tackle the problem of bogus colleges.
The clampdown on student visas will mean tighter monitoring for the more than 200,000 overseas students who receive visas each year.
'Surveillance'
"We have grave concerns that new rules on monitoring foreign students have been pulled together without any consultation with the people who would be tasked with their implementation," says Ms Hunt - who is one of 200 signatories to a letter protesting against the plans.
"We do not believe it is appropriate or effective to task colleges and universities with the policing of immigration," she says.
The union has previously opposed suggestions that university staff should identify students who might pose a security threat.
"As we said then, if people wanted to go into the monitoring or spying game they would have become spooks," she says.
The letter, sent to the Guardian newspaper, says: "This police-like surveillance is not the function of universities, and alters the educational relationship between students and their teachers in a very harmful manner."
The academics are protesting against Home Office plans to stop the misuse of the student visa system - which will require universities to identify overseas students who are not following courses.
From next autumn, universities will have to introduce a "sponsor management system", to inform the UK Border Agency if overseas students have dropped out.
The tightening of border controls aim to stop people entering the country on student visas with no real intention of studying.
This can either be through bogus colleges, which do not really provide the courses they claim to offer, or by students failing to attend the courses for which they have registered.
Almost 300 bogus colleges have been uncovered in the past three years.
The new regulations will mean that overseas students - classified as those from outside the European Union - will have to give their fingerprints for a biometric identity card.
The first students having to give fingerprints will be those applying for visa extensions from November 25 - initially affecting 50,000 to 60,000 students.
Overseas students - classified as those from outside the European Union - have become an important source of income for universities, particularly as they pay higher fees than UK students.
The university watchdog, the Quality Assurance Agency, said earlier this year that some universities were now financially dependent on overseas students.
There have been concerns that the introduction of tighter immigration controls, including compulsory fingerprinting, might deter potential applicants.
The higher education representative body, Universities UK, has warned that there are only six centres around the UK where biometric information can be collected - which will mean long journeys for some students.
There are also concerns about queuing times - and an absence of any way of booking an appointment.
Last year, there were 313,000 applications for student visas - of which 217,000 were issued. Existing students won't be affected unless they want to extend their visa.
For further information on how Fulham and Chelsea can help you study and work in the UK please contact: info@fccollege.co.uk
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