Tier 4 Visa Monitoring - Draft for discussion at 5 June 2018 Meeting
This is a draft document for discussion at the Tier 4 Visa Monitoring Meeting supported by UCL UCU Branch,
End discrimination against international students at UCL!
Open meeting for Staff and Students
5th June, 16.00, Elvin Hall at UCL Institute of Education (20 Bedford Way)
Draft for Discussion on 5th June
Statement of Principles on Tier 4 visa
monitoring
As staff and students at UCL, we
recognise that international students lie at the heart of our institution. International
students make an invaluable contribution to UCL’s dynamic intellectual climate
and the important diversity of our university community. These are priorities which
are consistent with UCL’s Global Engagement Strategy, including its commitment
to cultivating global outlooks and sharing academic expertise for solving
global problems through extending the global reach of our teaching, research,
and academic partnerships.[1]
Since 2012, universities have been increasingly
involved in monitoring the compliance of international students on Tier 4 visas.
Staff across the university sector have raised concerns that such processes
harm staff-student relationships and turns staff into proxy border guards for
the Home Office.[2]
While current legal duties are in place, UCL cannot but conform to Home Office
requirements. We also, however, have a moral duty to ensure that in doing this
we do not foster a climate of suspicion and discrimination against
international students.
Unfortunately, recent changes to
UCL regulations for staff monitoring and reporting of international students’
compliance with Tier 4 visa requirements are having precisely such pernicious
effects. The ‘comprehensive’ monitoring and requirements for increasingly
regular, on site, face to face checks put a clearly discriminatory burden on
international students that is in conflict with stated principles in Home
Office Tier 4 guidance. The Home Office document ‘Tier 4 Compliance: A
Practical Guide’ states that it is inappropriate to put in place monitoring
processes that are not directly linked to academic activities or that place
additional burdens on either staff or students (p. 28).
In addition, as colleagues noted in
a May 24th letter to the Provost, the current UCL processes: put
additional pressure on students at a time when we have increasing evidence
about risks to student wellbeing and mental health;
take up time of both professional and academic
staff in bureaucracy that is irrelevant to and in conflict with the task of
supporting learning and research; and
build a culture of mistrust, putting at risk what should be a relationship of
mutual respect between students and the university.
While UCL is required to carry out
Tier 4 monitoring duties, it is crucial that does so in line with key
principles that avoid any discriminatory effects, that respect academic
integrity, that are consistent with current practices in digital education, and
that maintain a stance of ethical and critical engagement.
Principle of non-discrimination: All students
should be treated equally in relation to attendance and supervision
requirements regardless of their immigration status. International students
should not be subject to differential treatment or expectations than home
students.
Principle of academic integrity: the requirement of UKVI is that universities
should be able to demonstrate students are engaged with their programmes of
study, as these have been designed based on academic principles; academic programmes
should not have to be re-designed to fit non-academic, immigration policy
requirements.
Principle of digital education: UCL has embraced the goal of being a world leader
in digital education. Students and staff should be able to engage with one another,
and with programmes of study, digitally: physical presence on campus and pen
and ink documents should not be given preference over digital engagement and
documentation, except where these are motivated by core academic goals and
principles.
Principle of ethical and critical engagement: UCL must put the principles of ethical and
critical engagement into practice in relation to requirements for HEI
immigration monitoring and directly challenge the Home Office when guiding
principles of equity, respect and academic values come into conflict with the
minutiae of bureaucratic requirements.
We call on UCL to formally commit
to the above and undertake a thorough review of new and existing guidance for
monitoring of students on Tier 4 visas in light of these principles. We further
urge UCL to take a more public and proactive stand with the Home Office, using
its considerable influence to effect positive and non-discriminatory changes in
the treatment of Tier 4 international students.
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