At the annual UK Council of International Student Affairs (UKCISA) conference in Glasgow last week, Peter Chaplin of the International Change Programme- UK visas and Immigration at the Home Office conceded these would add to already unpopular visa measures, but promised to work with the sector in their implementation.

“We’ve been promised a period of stability but in the real world what we’re going to see is what we’ve seen over the last few weeks like the announcement on the NHS levy and the financial bonds,” Chaplin told international student officers from across the UK. “That’s a real publicist challenge for me and by extension for you as we approach 2015.”

“We’ve been promised a period of stability but in the real world what we’re going to see is what we’ve seen over the last few weeks”

This is not welcome news for admissions offices which are already struggling with tougher Tier 4 compliancy rules and visa reforms that have caused university applications to slide in some markets. News of a levy on national health care for immigrants as well as a bond scheme for visitors to the UK made headlines last week, sparking further concern that the wrong message was being sent abroad.

“The fear is whatever the driver of that policy, it will be seen overseas that students are being targeted although it’s not about students, it’s not focused on students and it’s not driven on students,” Dominic Scott  CEO of UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), told The PIE News.

“But after the story on bonds goes straight into NHS charges and landlord checking, people will put all those stories together and we fear they’ll think not being welcoming to students is part of  our plan.”

Also high among sector concerns are new student credibility interviews being rolled out this year. While UKCISA believes they will be fairer than originally planned – being used to support not dictate visa decisions – it warns they could still lead to subjective decisions.

Chaplin also confirmed a new video interviewing system had been introduced to speak with students in 74 locations around the world. To date 12,500 interviews have been made at an average of 700 per day, which he predicts will rise to 2,000 in peak season. Some 100,000 interviews are due to be delivered annually.

“Operationally everything is going smoothly and hopefully it will speed up the application process,”  said Chaplin. “The challenge will be to get over the perception that the UK isn’t open for business because that is very much the way it’s being perceived in very key locations.”

“It sounds like there’s a real willingness in the Home Office to improve procedures”

Others complained that communication with the Home Office and application processing times continued to be poor (factors that contributed to the demise of the UK Border Agency in March).

In response, representatives from the Home Office claimed they were trying to improve service standards including online processing for Tier-4 applicants and the formalisation of a controversial £8,000 per annum Premium Standard service, which will give institutions access to an account manager, eligibility checks on students and regular reports on Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) numbers.

“It sounds like there’s a real willingness in the Home Office to improve procedures,” said Scott. “There are people who are optimistic but they’re holding their breath for what looks like a more stable environment and whether promises or suggestions of better procedures are actually going to happen.”