The PIE News will this week report from the largest gathering for UK university and college staff working with international students – the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) Annual Conference. Held at the University of Warwick, July 11 to 13, visa changes will be topping the agenda.
Highlights include presentations from the UK Borders Agency, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) among others. The event will welcome 400 delegates from across UK HE at a time when there is much to discuss – with latest UCAS statistics on UG applications reflecting a dip in EU and UK interest.
Dominic Scott, chief executive of UKCISA, said, “After a roller-coaster of a year which has seen the largest changes to the immigration rules in a decade, the UKCISA Annual Conference will debate the impact of the changes and look at new ways in which institutions can support their students.
“This could range from orientation programmes, academic transition, mentoring, study support, careers advice, volunteering programmes, and new approaches to cross cultural work and cross cultural training.”
Speakers of note include John Vine, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration; the deputy vice chancellor of the University of Warwick; Professor Koen Lamberts, the chair of UKCISA; Professor Paul Webley (director of SOAS and DVC of the University of London) and UKCISA’s president, Baroness Usha Prashar.
Follow and comment on the conference on Twitter at #UKCISA2012