UCU to challenge UK student visa changes
May 29 2009 by Bryan Palmer
UCU plans to boycott student visa changes
The UK government might be on the brink of another UK immigration fight following tough new rules governing tier 4 student visas, that have left many university lecturers and staff angered.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will vote at the annual congress today on whether to launch a 'campaign of non-compliance’ with the new rules governing the foreigners who want to come to study in the UK.
Already nine UCU branches have voted to ignore the new UK immigration rules.
Each foreign student must now hold a place at an educational institution that has a license to take foreign students. The new system requires staff at these universities and colleges to report absent foreign students in order to continue to hold a license to accept them.
Many staff are angry that they are being required to ‘police’ foreign students and employers are also said to be concerned about the requirements.
Several education establishments have now voted to boycott the rules, but they are keen to gain the support of the Union on the matter.
Jim Guild, who represents the University of Sussex branch of the UCU, says the union must declare an official dispute but that it was still unclear whether the issue was one a trade union could dispute. He stated that as it stands, “the union can’t protect members who participate in an act of boycott.”
Universities claim the new UK student visa rules are already leading to problems, with students from countries including India finding it difficult to win visas to study in the UK. Others are finding the bureaucracy involved is interfering with their studies.
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