Dear all,
You may be aware that a motion expressing our opposition to the new Home
Office regulations on international students was passed overwhelmingly at
our general meeting last week. The rules require staff to single out the
attendance of international students in such a way as to undermine our
relationship of trust with these students. We believe that the rules are
discriminatory and will add to our workloads. Both the UCU, at a national
level, and the Students Union at Goldsmiths are opposed to the new
regulations. The full text of the motion is below but there are two
important action points arising from it.
First, I have written to Philip Broadhead, Pro-Warden (Students and
Development) asking him for precise details of how the College intends to
implement the new rules.
Second, the motion asks members not to comply with the new rules until we
have resolved any human rights or workload issues that may arise. I have
therefore tabled this issue for next week's Joint Negotiation and
Consultation Committee and am also waiting on advice from the national
union.
In the meantime, if you are asked to provide data or to carry out tasks
DIRECTLY related to the implementation of the new rules, I would advise
you to ask your line manager or members of senior management the following
questions in writing.
1. What steps have the College taken to ensure that staff implementing the
new points-based immigration rules are not breaching UK equality
legislation?
2. What assessment has been made by the College of the impact of
implementing the new scheme on the workload of staff?
3. What discussion has taken place with the recognised trade unions about potential changes to staff contracts arising from the requirement to
implement the scheme?
4. What risk assessment has taken place of the impact on the personal
security of staff who are asked to monitor student attendance as part of
the scheme?
If you do not feel that you are in a position to provide data that
DIRECTLY assists the operation of the scheme without this information, I
would advise you to request a delay while we obtain the necessary
information.
best wishes
Des
Des Freedman
President Goldsmiths UCU
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross
London SE14 6NW
--------------------------------------
Motion: New Home Office regulations (overwhelmingly carried, 12/2/09)
We wish to express our opposition to the new Home Office regulations,
introduced under the new points-based system for immigration to the UK,
that will require lecturers to monitor international students and to
report any absences from seminars, lectures and tutorials, as well as any
failure to submit assessment on time. We are opposed to these regulations for the following reasons.
First, they represent a possible breach of Article 8 (the right to
privacy) and Article 3 (degrading treatment) of the European Convention of
Human Rights and the 1998 Human Rights Act.
Second, such regulations will harm the relationship of trust between
students and lecturers that is a vital aspect of doing our jobs which,
fundamentally, should be helping students to learn. The regulations, in
effect, treat international students as though they are potential suspects
who have come to the UK with the specific goal of abusing the immigration
system. We feel that this is discriminatory as the Home Office regulations
apply only to non-EU students. We also wish to point out that the existing
procedures of applying for a student visa requires students to be accepted
at an accredited UK institution and, as such, already address the concerns
and bogus schools that apparently have motivated the new rules.
Third, the work involved in monitoring international students will add
unnecessarily to our workloads, in addition to our regular teaching,
administrative and pastoral duties.
Furthermore, we note the passing of a motion in 2008 by Goldsmiths
Students Union encouraging staff not to comply with the new rules.
For these reasons, this meeting agrees
1. To affirm its opposition to the new Home Office regulations;
2. To request details of the specific plans the University is making with
regard to the implementation of these regulations;
3. To ask members not to commence implementation of these regulations
until these details are made clear to members, and the human rights and
workload issues are appropriately dealt with.
Any questions? email us at gucu-admin@gold.ac.uk.