Jon Pink – Academic Registrar
University of Kent
Partnership Forum
UKBA Tier 4 Immigration System
Topics
•
•
•
•
•
Page 2
The principles of sponsorship and its role in controlling net
migration
The Sponsor Licence and HTS
Sponsorship with partners
UKBA Compliance Visits
Engagement or attendance monitoring
Add presentation title here in the Slide Master
The Principles of Sponsorship
Sponsorship is based on two basic principles, they are that:
•
•
Page 3
Those who benefit most directly from migration...help to
prevent the system being abused and
Those applying to come to the UK to work or study are
eligible to do so and a reputable employer or education
provider genuinly wishes to take them on
Add presentation title here in the Slide Master
Inflows of non-EU long-term migrants,
by reason for migration
180
non-EU Work-related
IPS Non-EU Inflows (000s)
160
non-EU Formal study
140
non-EU Accompany / join
120
non-EU Other / No reason
100
80
60
40
20
Source: Estimates from the International Passenger Survey 2009, Office for National
Statistics (UK)
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
0
4
The Tiers
•
Tier 1 – for highly skilled worker, the worker does not need to
be sponsored
•
•
•
•
Tier 2 – general worker route, the worker needs a sponsor
Page 5
Tier 3 – unskilled worker route not used at the moment
Tier 4 – student route, the student needs a sponsor
Tier 5 – temporary workers, covers a range of worker types:
sports, entertatinment
Add presentation title here in the Slide Master
What is a Sponsor Licence
•
•
•
•
•
Page 6
An institution, organisation, company can apply for a sponsor
licence to bring in workers and students to the UK
When applying for the licence the organisation agrees to a
range of duties
If the organisation does not meet those duties then there are
sanctions
The sanctions range from action plans to improve through to
loss of licence
An Education Institution can become a Highly Trusted
Sponsor which means it has certain flexibilities within the
licence
Add presentation title here in the Slide Master
HTS Mandatory Requirements
Page 7
Minimum Qualifying Period
12 months, with the last 6 months
as an A rated sponsor
Minimum period with no civil
penalties
Refusal Rate
3 years
Enrolment Rate
90%+
Course Completion Rate
85%+
Declaration of progression
100%
Add presentation title here in the Slide Master
<20%
HTS Core Measurable Requirements
Rate
Percentage
Refusal Rate
<5%
5-10%
10-15%
>15%
20%+
>98%
96-98%
93-96%
<93%
<90%
>98%
95-98%
90-95%
<90%
<85%
<100%
Enrolment rate
Course Completion Rate
Academic Progression
Page 8
Add presentation title here in the Slide Master
Points (start at 100, must score 70 or
above
-0
-5
-10
-20
Immediate loss of HTS
-0
-5
-10
-15
Immediate loss of HTS
-0
-5
-10
-15
Immediate loss of HTS
Immediate loss of HTS
Sponsorship With Partners
•
•
•
Page 9
It is possible for one organisation to sponsor individuals
where those individuals are supported/managed by another
organisation
The main example for Education is that a sponsoring
institution has its courses taught by partners and chooses to
sponsor those students. They must have arrangements to
meet their sponsor duties
This can be a risk to the sponsoring institution and many
choose not to work in this way
Add presentation title here in the Slide Master
UKBA Visits
•
There are 4 broad categories of visits that UKBA may
make to an institution:
1. Informal Account Manager visit, perhaps to introduce
themselves
2. Compliance Visit where a relatively small number of
student files may be inspected (perhaps 30-50). Institution
should get a letter giving a broad outcome
3. Compliance Audit where a large number of student files
will be examined (25%-45%). These types of visit are
usually as a result of a compliance visit that identifies
problems. This may result in a formal report and
suspension or revocation
4. Intelligence Led Visit when information has been gathered
by the UKBA about a potential and significant issue. The
outcome depends upon what is found
Page 10
UKBA Compliance Visits
What is Checked during a Visit
•
For a full compliance visit UKBA officers will want to see a
range of evidence including:
 Student files containing admissions documentation, application,
evidence of qualifications, evidence of meeting English
Language requirement
 Copies of passport details and visa stamps, biometric
information
 Partnership agreements
 Contracts with overseas recruiting agents
 The right to trade and operate
 Engagement / attendance records
•
Engagement or attendance monitoring is one of the biggest
issues in the sector at the moment
Page 11
Add presentation title here in the Slide Master
Examples of expected interactions include, but
are not limited to:
a) attending any lesson, lecture, tutorial or seminar (as relevant to
the level of study);
b) attending any test, examination or assessment board;
c) submitting assessed or unassessed coursework;
d) submitting an interim dissertation, coursework or report;
e) attending any meeting with a supervisor or personal tutor;
f)
attending any research-method or research-panel meetings,
writing-up seminars or doctoral workshops;
g) attending an oral examination (viva);
h) registration (matriculation or enrolment);
i)
Page 12
attending an appointment with a welfare advisor or international
student adviser.
UKBA Compliance Visits
Monitoring Systems Seen by UKBA
• UKBA has visited a number of Universities. The next 3 slides
show monitoring systems from sponsors maintaining Highly
Trusted Status
• Electronic attendance monitoring is not the only method of
compliance monitoring and is not necessarily a substitute for
good record keeping.
•
•
Page 13
It is essential that Universities demonstrate that they are
complying with their stated monitoring systems through
electronic and paper files
Source documents may be required to support computer
based systems when data has ben input
UKBA Compliance Visits
Example Monitoring System - University A
• Use electronic attendance monitoring and 6 ID check points
during the year to monitor their sponsored students.
• They have a bar code scanner in place and student ID cards
are scanned at the start of each class.
• This system is linked to an internal system for monitoring
purposes.
• If a student goes missing during class then it is up to the
lecturer to inform the International Office.
• A narrative of any contact with the student is retained i.e.
phone, e-mail, text, letter.
Page 14
UKBA Compliance Visits
Example Monitoring System - University B
•
•
•
•
•
Page 15
Expected contacts are any timetabled contacts (i.e. lectures,
tutorials, lab time).
Class lists to establish if there are any non-attendees.
Initially, any patterns of absence are monitored by the
individual faculty.
If the faculty is unable to resolve the issue it is referred to the
International Office.
They also have an engagement scheme whereby any
attendance at the library, International Office or entrance via
a barrier system is recorded.
UKBA Compliance Visits
Example Monitoring System - University C
•
•
•
•
•
•
Page 16
The sponsor set up 10 random expected interactions for the
academic year (these expected interactions can be any form
of contact with the university including email contact or a
meeting with the International Office).
These interactions where then recorded on an electronic
database.
If the student misses 4 expected interactions then action was
taken by the international office taken.
If the missed interactions are during the academic year a
meeting is arranged and a verbal warning is issued.
If the missed interaction is near the end of the year then an
email warning is issued.
If there is further non attendance a final warning is issued.
UKBA Compliance Visits
Monitoring System – University of Kent
• Where possible University regulations are used to set out
expectations and resulting actions
• All taught modules have a defined attendance pattern and
registers are marked and entered into the student data
system (SDS), normally seminars and tutorials not lectures
• Research students have at least one meeting a month with
their supervisor from which the student submits a brief
report to the SDS which is verified by the tutor
• Students on work placement or year abroad submit a
monthly report to a supervisor at Kent which is verified by
the supervisor at the host organisation. (Paper/email based)
• Reports can be drawn from SDS to show attendance patterns
and poor attendance is followed up by the School
• Schools have others contacts to check engagement
Page 17
UKBA Compliance Visits
Developments in Attendance Monitoring
•
•
•
Meeting between UKBA and UUK, UKCISA, GuildHE, NUS and
ECU
Resulted in a “clarification letter” from George Shirley a copy of
which has ben circulated around the sector.
UKBA have committed to a co-regulation working group with HE
organisations
 Group will be UKBA, UKBA, Guild HE and UKCISA
 UKBA do not want ARC or AUHA directly involved in the group, though they
have agreed for an ARC/AUHA replacement if UUK cannot be represented
•
•
Risk based compliance visits
Tier 1 and PhD changes from April 2013
Page 18
Attendance Monitoring – Main Points from UKBA
•
•
•
•
•
The intention of the attendance monitoring policy is not to put
existing layers on existing processes, nor is intended to monitor
students to the ‘nth degree’
The intention of attendance monitoring was never for institutions to
create separate systems for international students
UKBA officers are not interested in the technicalities of contact
points determined by individual sponsors. They are interested in
sponsors having appropriate systems in place and the outputs from
those systems being satisfactory
Policy on attendance monitoring has deliberately not been
prescriptive as it has to cover 2,000 Tier 4 sponsors
UKBA accepts that input from individual compliance officers has in
some cases driven particular approaches to be adopted by
institutions and that these have on occasions been “outside the
spirit of the Tier 4 rules”
Page 19
Attendance Monitoring – “Set of Principles”
•
•
•
•
During the meeting in early January, it was suggested that the
sector could develop a set of principles setting out a few high-level
commitments in relation to attendance monitoring (or ensuring ongoing 'engagement with studies').
UKBA have said they will work with the sector to produce this but it
won't be a formal UKBA document.
It is something that a range of organisations could sign up to
including UUK, UKCISA, NUS, ECU, GuildHE
It was felt that the principles themselves should be developed by
practitioners and supported by other bodies
Page 20