Memorandum submitted by University and
College Union
UCU
The University and College Union (UCU) represents
nearly 120,000 further and higher education lecturers, managers,
researchers and many academic-related staff such as librarians,
administrators and computing professionals across the UK.
POINTS BASED
SYSTEM
The introduction of the points based system
has caused a great deal of alarm amongst UCU members. The system
has significant implications for members working both in HE and
FE. Higher education institutions (HEIs) will be the highest volume
users of the new immigration system but a number of the proposals
for the operation of the system are not appropriate for HEIs as
they have been developed for employers and employees rather than
education institutions and students. UCU is strongly opposed to
the legislation, which we believe discriminates against non-EAA
nationals and damages the relationship of trust between staff
and students. We also believe that it may be used to impose changes
to staff contracts.
HOW THE
SCHEME WILL
WORK IN
THE EDUCATION
SECTOR
In terms of the education sector, the Home Office
claims that there are two main aims to this legislation:
Foreign nationals are now categorised as belonging
to five levels or tiers:
— Tier 1: Highly skilled individuals;
— Tier 2: Skilled workers with
a job offer;
— Tier 3: Limited numbers of low
skilled workers;
— Tier 5: Youth mobility and temporary
workers.
For FE and HE institutions, the new system will
affect highly skilled staff (Tier 1), staff who are skilled workers
with a job offer (Tier 2), students (Tier 4), and sponsored researchers
(Tier 5).
As part of the system, colleges and universities
wishing to employ staff or recruit students who are foreign nationals
from outside the EEA will have to register as `sponsoring institutions'.
They will then be responsible for monitoring
the conduct of these foreign nationals and reporting to the UK
Border Agency on aspects of their behaviour.
Each college or university will now have to
register as a sponsor with the UK Border Agency and be issued
with a sponsorship licence to employ or teach non-EEA nationals.
Employers will be expected to:
— issue certificates of sponsorship
licences to their non-EEA employees;
— issue confirmations of acceptance
for studies to their non-EEA students;
— maintain up-to-date records on non-EEA
staff and students, in the case of students, for a period up to
two years after the student is no longer sponsored;
— keep copies of biometric passports;
— alert the UK Border Agency to any
non-EEA national staff member who:
(i) fails to start work no later than 10
days after their start date, and
(ii) is absent for a period of 10 working
days without prior granted permission;
— alert the UK Border Agency to any
non-EEA national student who:
(i) fails to enrol no later than 10 days
after the end of a prescribed enrolment period, and
(ii) misses 10 expected interactions (for
example, tutorials, submission of coursework, etc),
(iii) arouses suspicions that they are breaching
the conditions of their leave to remain.
All employers will be subject to unannounced
visits by enforcement teams from the UK Border Agency. The penalties
on an employer for non-compliance can be revocation of the institution's
sponsorship licence.
COMPLIANCE WITH
THE NEW
DUTIES
Because the new points-based system carries
new duties, colleges and universities are having to create the
means of enforcing them. Employers applying for sponsorship from
the UK Border Agency have to appoint a number of key staff who
will be responsible for maintaining records on sponsored staff
and students. These might be personnel whose contractual duties
already include such monitoring activities.
However, in practice, much of the day-to-day responsibility
for monitoring staff and students and ensuring that their records
are kept up to date will fall on ordinary academic and related
staff members, for whom these might well constitute new duties.
Accordingly, some institutions are already making
it clear that it will be the responsibility of all staff to ensure
that monitoring and record-keeping are up to date. More ominously,
legal advice issued to employers recommends that they "amend
employment contracts to take account of PBS changes", so
that they include "an obligation to reveal changes in circumstances".
(Taylor Wessing, Law at Work, July 2008, page 4.)
UCU POSITION
UCU opposes the new system on five grounds:
— The requirements of the new system
may be used to impose changes to contractual duties on large numbers
of staff.
— It will have a detrimental effect
in limiting recruitment of international students to UK higher
education institutions.
— It will damage the relationship of
trust between staff and students, undermining our ability to perform
our professional pedagogical duties.
HOW WILL
THE SCHEME
AFFECT UK HEIS
GLOBAL COMPETITIVNESS?
A recent article in the Times Higher Education
(14 December 2008), noted the new legislation is already having
a detrimental effect. Previously visas were given to overseas
academics who came to participate in research at UK universities
but whose salaries continued to be paid for by overseas institutions.
Under the new system there is no equivalent direct route into
the country for such staff. The closure of the sponsored research
route will see the loss of researchers to other countries, a trend
that is already being reported in universities.
UCU has just put out a survey of branches on the
impact of the new scheme. One of the questions in the survey is:
"Have you witnessed a downturn in student
numbers?"
With the survey only having been out one week,
the responses have included 15 HEIs which say that they have had
a downturn of between 10-20%.
Another question asks:
"Can you make a projection for future downturn?"
Responses to this include:
"Our postgraduate students will decrease
by 75%."
"American candidates will be far less likely
to apply to UK institutions."
"There is no way that students will be able
to meet the financial requirements so I expect a significant drop
in international students."
"The university is very worried and expects
numbers to fall. Overseas students represent 35% of undergraduate
and post-graduate students and we expect numbers to fall by 10-20%."
As stated the survey has just been sent out
but UCU would be happy to share the final results with committee
members when it is completed shortly after Easter.
CONCERNS AS
A UNION
Our members are opposed to the introduction
of this new policy in principle but there are also clear concerns
with regard to changes in the contract of employment in imposing
new duties. There are also concerns with regard to equality issues
under the Race Relations Act.
Institutions have a duty to positively promote equality
of opportunity and race relations. There is clearly a tension
between the objective of applying the new duties to staff and
students from outside the European Economic Area and ensuring
that they are not discriminated against.
Under the RR(A)A, the employer has a specific
duty to assess the impact of their policies on students and staff
of different racial groups. They also have a duty to monitor,
by reference to their impact on such staff and students, the admission
and progress of students, and the recruitment and career progression
of staff. Any new policy must therefore be subject to an impact
assessment and the findings of the impact assessment published.
February 2009
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