My concern with this is that the Home Office seems to be engaging in a fishing expedition. I might feel differently about it if the Home Office were to provide a list of the students they suspected had entered fraudulently, and asked us to verify if they had, indeed, enrolled and were attending. Mary F. Liddell Data Protection and Information Officer Brunel University -----Original Message----- From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Antoinette Carter Sent: 03 February 2005 11:31 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [data-protection] FW: Reporting students to Home Office I think "all's fair in love and fair collection notices". Here at the British Council we often act as the intermediaries between overseas students and UK universities as we administer a number of scholarship programmes etc., as well as jointly run various English language examinations with Exam Boards here in the UK. In our Fair Collection Notices on the students' application forms we clearly state that, if having applied for a visa to study in the UK, they are a "no show", that there details may be made available to the Home Office on request. -----Original Message----- From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rushall, Martin Sent: 03 February 2005 10:52 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [data-protection] FW: Reporting students to Home Office 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 -------------- Enclosure number 1 ---------------- * This message contains the file 'gov proposals Jan 2005.doc', which has been * uuencoded. If you are using Pegasus Mail, then you can use * the browser's eXtract function to lift the original contents * out to a file, otherwise you will have to extract the message * and uudecode it manually. -------------- Enclosure number 2 ---------------- * This message contains the file 'disclosure statement.doc', which has been * uuencoded. If you are using Pegasus Mail, then you can use * the browser's eXtract function to lift the original contents * out to a file, otherwise you will have to extract the message * and uudecode it manually. -------------- Enclosure number 3 ---------------- * This message contains the file 'Annexes A&B.doc', which has been * uuencoded. If you are using Pegasus Mail, then you can use * the browser's eXtract function to lift the original contents * out to a file, otherwise you will have to extract the message * and uudecode it manually. 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