Any views on the data protection dimension to this anyone?
Martin Rushall
Deputy Secretary
Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds LS1 3HE
Tel: +44 (0)113 283 3409
Fax: +44 (0)113 283 3142
-----Original Message-----
From: Duncan Lane [mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
]
Sent: 27 January 2005 17:57
To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Reporting students to Home Office
The Home Office are currently consulting with institutions via Universities
UK and Association of Colleges on options for reporting those obtaining
student visas who either do not enrol or who fail to attend after enrolling.
Vice Chancellors and Principals should have received the attached documents.
The deadline for responses is 7 March 2005.
Implementation, we understand, is planned for April 2005
You and your colleagues may wish to seek an opportunity to have some input
into your institution's response.
There are three options presented for reporting 'no shows' and there are two
options presented for reporting 'non-attenders'.
You may wish to discuss the latter set of options in particular:
Option 1
'Require establishments to notify the Home Office of all students who enrol
but fail to attend.'
This is the Home Office's favoured option but may cause concern in
institutions as information on all students who do not attend will be passed
to the Home Office even when 'good' reasons for non-attendance are provided.
No information has been provided on what this data will be used for by the
Home Office. There are also issues around the judgement of non-attendance.
Option 2
'Require establishments to notify us of students who fail to provide them
with good reason for their non-attendance.'
The Home Office does not support this option as they consider that it would
place an unreasonable burden on institutions to try to assess whether a
student has dropped out for a genuine reason or not. Again there are issues
around the judgement of non-attendance.
Also attached templates for information (I/05/13(b))
Institutions are invited to comment on the templates drafted by the Home
Office to enable institutions to provide information on applicants who do
not enrol and students who do not attend. In particular, whether the
information fields are appropriate and whether institutions will be able to
provide this level of information in view of data protection issues and
without jeopardising the relationship between student advisers and students.
Institutions may also wish to suggest appropriate formats for information
provision to the Home Office. A simple electronic process at relevant times
in the academic year, perhaps around the time of data provision to other
agencies, may be appropriate. Due to the nature and potential use of the
information being provided by institutions it may also be appropriate to
identify one senior institutional contact point for the Home Office in
relation to this issue.
Home Office data protection advice (I/05/13(c))
Institutions are invited to comment on the suggested data protection wording
for relevant student documentation that has been developed by the Home
Office. Institutions may wish to comment on whether this advice is adequate
and/or appropriate.
Other issues
A number of other issues are not addressed in the revised options paper and
include:
* The Home Office are still unable to provide any evidence of the scale of
student visa abuse that they are trying to tackle and whether it occurs in
particular education sectors or in particular parts of the UK.
* There is no information about how this information will be used by the
Home Office.
You may also wish to flag up some good practice issues on reporting students
if and when the relevant proposals become implemented, particularly those
who enrol but fail to attend from any stage after that. This could include:
- looking at how the institution identifies who is not attending;
- having a policy that gives adequate opportunity for the student's reasons
for not attending / ceasing to attend so that reasons can be expressed as
appropriate on any form being sent to the Home Office;
- having clear and accessible procedures for students who need to suspend /
defer / withdraw from their studies at any time including any referral to
academic and welfare advisers;
- deciding who within the institution would be the liaison point for
communications with the Home Office (e.g. Registrar) and ensuring that only
that person or people communicate with the Home Office about students who
are 'no shows' or 'non-attenders' and that there are guidelines on the
procedures that need to be followed by them and any of their successors
- how to ensure that international students can continue to access advice,
welfare and counselling services knowing that a robust confidentiality
policy will be adhered to and that information would only be passed to the
Home Office directly or indirectly with their willing consent (e.g.. often
it will be in the students' interests for their reasons for not attending to
be passed on via the designated person in the institution to the Home
Office)
Kind regards,
Duncan
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