article
The point of education
16 September 2008
The Government’s new Points Based System (PBS) for foreign
students will have a big impact on independent schools and colleges
of further education in the UK when it comes in to force in January
2009.
The Independent School’s Council (ISC), an
umbrella body representing 1,280 independent schools, has published
its 2008 Census figures. In ICS schools there are 20,545
non-British pupils, accounting for 4% of all pupils. About 75% of
these non-British pupils are from outside the EU. Four out of five
of these pupils stay in the UK for their Higher Education,
contributing £51.3 million in tuition fees.
The Points Based System
The PBS is at the heart of the Government’s
plans to overhaul the UK’s immigration system and will condense
over 80 routes of visa entry in to a 5 tiered system :
- Tier 1: Migrants with desirable professional skills
- Tier 2: Skilled workers with an offer of employment
- Tier 3: Temporary unskilled workers
- Tier 4: Students
- Tier 5: Youth mobility schemes, temporary workers
The tiers are applicable to all migrants
wishing to enter the UK from countries outside the European
Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. There are also restrictions on
a few countries who recently join the EEA, such as the Czech
Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria.
New categories for students
In July this year the Home Office published
the latest tranche; Tier 4 for students.
There will be 2 visa categories within Tier 4
: for children between the ages of 4-16 who wish to come to the UK
to be educated at an independent school and those wanting to come
to the UK for their post 16 education. The latter will cover
students in colleges of further education and universities. All
schools and colleges wishing to recruit non-EEA students will need
to comply with the new system.
The principle of sponsorship underpins the new
PBS. To be able to sponsor an international student an educational
institution needs to go through 4 steps: accreditation,
registration on the Sponsorship Register, identification of key
personnel to manage the system and issuing a Certificate of
Sponsorship.
Accreditation
Each step under the new system promotes the
aims of the new immigration system. Accreditation helps to identify
phoney educational systems which are only set up to offer places to
‘students’ purely to facilitate entry to the UK and to protect
genuine students caught up in these fictitious colleges.
In order for an educational establishment to
become a sponsor it must first demonstrate that it is a bona fide
education provider. Accreditation will need to go beyond any
approval to deliver a particular course and will involve a full
institutional inspection. This is achieved by having in place some
form of accreditation from an external independent body. This will
not be an issue for most independent school and colleges as they
will already have a successful inspection in place.
Independent schools will already be registered
with the DCFS following a successful inspection by either the
Independent Schools Inspectorate or Ofsted and will not require any
additional accreditation. FE Colleges are inspected by Ofsted and
the Adult Learning Inspectorate. Ofsted will also be the
accrediting body for private colleges.
Registration
Once an institution has proof of accreditation, such as an
Ofsted inspection, an application can be made to the UK Border
Agency to obtain a licence to become a registered Sponsor. The
register will replace the current Register of Education Training
Providers.
The process is an on-line application and
needs to be followed with the appropriate paperwork and fee to the
UK Border Agency within 10 working days.
A successful applicant will be placed on the
Sponsorship Register and issued with either an A or B-rated
licence, depending on the strength of its application. The
B-rated licence is only a temporary ranking and therefore a timed
action plan must be complied with to improve to an A-rated
licence. An unsuccessful applicant has no right to appeal but
can re-do their application at any time.
Identifying key personnel
Given the increase in responsibilities an
educational institution will need to ensure a well organised system
is also in place to comply with the PBS and to manage their legal
obligations under the Tier 4 system. As a result, an
application for a licence requires an educational institution to
identify personnel for four key roles:
- Authorising Officer – responsible for the activities of anyone
acting on behalf of the sponsor to issue a certificate of
sponsorship. Must be a permanent and paid member of staff in the
UK.
- Key Contact – the main point of contact between the UK Border
Agency and the educational establishment, they must also be based
in the UK.
- Level 1 User – will conduct the establishment’s day to day
activities using the online sponsorship management system, such as
assigning Certificates of Sponsorship, notifying of changes,
reporting migrant activity and non-compliance, withdrawing
certificates, managing study addresses and amending user details.
More level 1 users can be added after the initial application
depending on the needs of the school. They must also be resident in
the UK.
- Level 2 User – will have restricted access to the range of
permissions in the IT system. They are able to assign certificates
and report migrant activity. As many level 2 users can be appointed
as the school considers it needs, and they must also be based in
the UK.
These roles can be filled by the same person
or shared by up to four individuals and once on the register an
institution can appoint additional Level 1 and 2 Users to share the
work. It is worth noting however that the Authorising Officer is
responsible for the actions of all users in an establishment so
numbers should be kept to a manageable level.
A 5th role, outside the application
but important to consider is the education provider’s Legal
Representative. They can be appointed to all but the
Authorising Officer’s role and can advise the educational
institution on their ongoing responsibilities when issuing a
Certificate of Sponsorship.
The system will be an on-line system provided
by the UK Border Agency and access is dependent on the roles named
above.
Certificate of Sponsorship
When an institution is up and running a
prospective student will require from them a Certificate of
Sponsorship to support their Tier 4 Application. This is a virtual
document and consists of a unique reference number. In providing
these certificates the educational institution is taking on the
day-to-day responsibility for their international student which
brings with it key responsibilities in terms of record keeping,
reporting duties and compliance with the law.
Each Sponsor must keep copies of each
migrant’s passport or UK immigration status document together with
up to date contact details at all times to ensure they are in a
position to cooperate with the UK Border Agency. Sponsors must also
report to the UK Border Agency if the sponsored migrant does not
turn up for study, if they are absent for more than 10 expected
contact days without reasonable permission, if the course of study
ends, if the Sponsor stops sponsoring the student, if there are any
significant changes to the student or Sponsor’s circumstances or if
the Sponsor suspects the student is breaching their conditions of
leave. Sponsors must be clear at all times that a student is
lawfully able to study in the UK.
A failure to comply with these duties may
interfere with the Sponsor’s ability to issue certificates,
possibly even result in a ban and civil penalties against the
institution and/or criminal prosecution of key personnel. It is
therefore imperative that a comprehensive system is in place to
comply with the PBS and key personnel have a clear understanding of
their responsibilities.
Following the issuing of a Certificate of
Sponsorship it then falls to the prospective student to show a
willingness to learn by achieving some qualifications and is able
to accrue sufficient points to be granted entry rights to the UK.
As each certificate costs £10 to issue it is worth checking that a
student is likely to score the required 40 points. 30 of these
points come from the Certificate of Sponsorship and 10 awarded if a
student can prove sufficient funds are available for their
maintenance and fees.
A successful candidate will be granted a
period of leave to complete their course. The periods of study
under each visa are yet to be finalised.
Protection for all
In the UK international students make a
valuable contribution to the economy in tuition fees alone.
Alongside these are the cultural benefits the students bring.
However, previous attempts to reduce the number of ways the system
is abused by either bogus students or colleges have been limited by
the amount the Home Office can do. Of the 2,000 institutions on the
current register (operated by the Department for Innovation,
Universities and Skills) 256 have been inspected since 2005. 124 of
them, 48%, were struck off.
It is clear the student visa system has always
been open to abuse, with innocent students being caught up in phony
educational institutions and ‘students’ enrolling for a course of
study and never turning up. As a result, the new PBS has at the
heart of it the aim to protect the quality of the UK’s education
system and the excellent educational experience it offers
international students. Points based systems have been successfully
operated in other countries such as Australia, Canada and New
Zealand for some time now and will not be a bar to good students
entering the UK and receiving excellent education from bona fide
establishments. Whilst we cannot get away from the fact educational
institutions are going to have to put in place a well organised
system and support staff in the key roles, the new system should
afford the UK’s education system suitable protection from further
abuse.
This article was first published in Sec
Ed
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