UoB monitoring expected contact and reporting to the UKBA

1. UoB monitoring expected contact and reporting to the UKBA PBS monitoring stakeholder group meeting 16th March 2010

2. Background to PBS requirements & current implementation at UoB The university has new responsibilities as a Tier 4 sponsor of migrant Students • New format paper visa letters issued March 2009 • New record keeping (passport copying) requirements implemented September 2009 • Frameworks for CAS student monitoring agreed 23rd January after consultation • Visa letters replaced with electronic CAS (Certificate of Acceptance of Study) from 22nd February 2010 • Interim monitoring process started after 22nd Feb 2010 for visa extension CAS students (managed by Registry and will run to Sept 2010) • New Reporting requirements for CAS sponsored students • Process for reporting significant changes implemented after 22nd Feb 2010

3. Purpose of the third stakeholder working group meeting • Help Schools reach final decisions on their monitoring implementation by: • discussing the support SITS might provide in logging engagements. • Sharing best practice with other Schools • Discussing some of the CAS sponsoring issues that are associated with monitoring • For Registry to communicate the next steps in monitoring framework implementation

4. UKBA Monitoring Requirements(Extract from Tier 4 sponsor guidance) Sponsors must notify us where a student has missed 10 expected contacts. For students in schools, Further Education and English language colleges this will normally be where the student has missed 2 weeks of a course. In the Higher Education sector, where daily registers are not kept we will accept this reporting where the student has missed 10 expected interactions (for example, tutorials, submission of coursework etc).

5. UKBA expected interactions: Examples from UKBA Tier 4 sponsor guidance Some examples of expected interactions would be: • attendance at any lesson, lecture, tutorial or seminar (as relevant to the level of study); • attendance at any test, examination or assessment board; • submission of assessed or un-assessed coursework; • submission of 'interim' dissertation/coursework/reports; • attendance at any meeting with a supervisor or personal tutor; • attendance at any 'research method' or 'research panel' meetings. or at 'writing up' seminars or 'doctoral workshops'; • attendance at a viva; • registration (matriculation/enrolment); and • attendance at an appointment with a welfare advisor or an international student adviser. • This list is not exhaustive

8. Suggested School monitoring screen in SITS

9. SITS screen discussion points • The process in Schools • Chasing up on red crosses • Students able to redeem a red cross • Flexibility in when automatic emails are sent out • The process in Registry • Exception reports

10. Sponsoring issues: re-sits,repeats and extensions Students are allowed to re-sit examinations or repeat any part of their course up to two times per individual examination or module. If the student’s leave expires before they have finished the re-sit, or repeat they must make an application to extend their leave before their current leave expires. Where the student has to do a re-sit or repeat a module of study, sponsors must decide, based on their knowledge of the student and their assessment of the student’s ability to pass the course, whether or not it is appropriate to continue sponsoring them. Sponsors must not continue to sponsor a student if the student has already twice failed a re-sit, or twice repeated a period of study. If a sponsor does continue to sponsor a student beyond these limits, it may have its licence downgraded or withdrawn.

11. Small group output • List the key points that your group believes that are covered by a best practice implementation of the guidance frameworks

12. Sponsoring issues: The 60 day rule We can sponsor a student while they are repeating as long as we require their continued participation within 60 days of the next academic period (with the exception of university vacations). When this is not the case we should notify the UKBA and advise the student to leave the UK or, if their CAS is due to expire, we should not assign a CAS for an extension but advise them to leave the UK. We may at a later date sponsor the student when they apply for a new visa to return to the UK.

13. Next steps • Schools agree their implementations of monitoring frameworks and submit to their Faculty Offices* by a date to be decided within the Faculty • Registry refine the SITS engagement monitoring screen(s) • Registry deliver SITS engagement monitoring training • Registry provides advice to QA officers in Faculties about UKBA requirements • Faculty Offices* agree each School’s monitoring implementation in good time for it to be implemented by the start of the 2010/2011 academic year • School monitoring begins on the School’s first course start date in 2010/2011 * This process is to be agreed with Deans and Faculty Offices

14. Undergraduate, postgraduate taught and foundation degrees

15. Postgraduate research students monitoring framework

16. Monitoring framework for students on long placements • Students on short placements will be monitored according to the framework for Undergraduate, postgraduate taught and foundation degrees. • The number of contacts with a student on a long placement that are electronic as opposed to face to face will vary according to whether the placement is in the UK or overseas as shown in the “What” column below

17. Monitoring framework for students on pre-sessional English Language courses