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AGM 2003 Chair Report

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AGM 2003 Chair Report Chair’s Report September 2003 1. The educational purposes of our organisation are listed below. In parentheses I comment on how we met and did not meet these objectives in 2002-2003. · Represent American Study Abroad programmes in the UK [YES – chiefly with the Metropolitan Police, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate [IND] of the Home Office, the Department for Trade and Industry [DTI] and the Prime Minister’s Initiative Team in the Department for Education and Skills [DfES]; at the AGM we will have two representatives from VisasUK (the Foreign and Commonwealth Office)]; · Develop contacts between its own members & corresponding UK cultural and educational entities [YES - the chair of BUTEX [British Universities Transatlantic Exchange] was invited to one of our sessions, and we approached several British cultural organisations when looking for our “Cultural visit”; BUTEX is also invited to our AGM and we are thinking about official representation at the BUTEX conference in Stirling in the summer of 2004] · Represent the common interests of Association members before public and private bodies and agencies [YES – as in the first item above] · Promote and support academic standards [YES– at the “Benchmarking Internships” meeting; and the Chair was on a panel at the EAIE conference in Vienna in September 2003 that focussed on learning strategies in the foreign classroom]; · Provide a mechanism for collecting and disseminating information about or of importance to its members [YES – chiefly by e-mail, although we also seem to be meeting a lot for drinks these days!] · Organise regular meetings of members and other interested bodies [YES – see below]; · Liaise with other organisations such as UKCOSA, BUTEX, the British Council, the US/UK Educational Commission, the EAIE [European Association of International Educators], the English Speaking Union, NAFSA, etc [YES – we had representatives at NAFSA in Salt Lake City and at the EAIE in Vienna, and we regularly brief Clive Saville of UKCOSA about the issues that cause us concern; we are beginning a discussion with the US/UK Educational Commission about a session next year]; · Liaise with the Embassy of the United States of America and the appropriate British government departments [YES – we had very little contact with the Embassy, although the Chair attended a reception there in the autumn of 2003; we have had two meetings with DfES personnel and we are organising one with DTI personnel.] 2. The Year in review: In the academic year 2002-2003 the Association planned and ran the following 12 meetings. One of our meetings was cancelled; the focus of another was changed. And we have still yet to organise a cricket match against BUTEX. Maybe 2004 will be the year! · October 2002: “Annual General Meeting”: The focus of the AGM was on the future of the Association. Four key areas were addressed: (a) the need to make amendments to the by- laws to ease the process of electing an executive committee; (b) the need to review membership categories with a view to increasing the number of members, thereby becoming a more powerful and more representative lobbying force; (c) the need to hire a staff assistant to help with the work of the Association; (d) the need to increase membership dues in order to employ a staff assistant. · November 2002: “The Death of a Student”: Peter Leuner and Susan Strauss of Syracuse led us through the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of one of their students in a road traffic accident in September 2002. The session was an excellent example of “crisis management”; particularly relevant were the great strain on members of Syracuse University’s staff in London and the need to have a well-rehearsed crisis management plan. · December 2002: “Christmas Social at Truckles Wine Bar”: Our usual Christmas social gathering was well attended. The Christmas raffle has become a feature of this event. · January 2003: “Emergency Meeting on New Immigration Regulations”: We were taken by surprise when the Immigration and Nationality Directory [IND] of the Home Office declared that, from February 1st 2003, all US students undertaking work placements/internships would have to get prior entry clearance at a UK consulate in America. After our protest to IND, the changes were withdrawn. Officials in the IND and the DfES are still discussing how best to resolve the problem of acquiring “student status” for our undergraduates who study here for less than 6 months. · January 2003: “Benchmarking internships”: FIE hosted an important session on issues and concerns surrounding our internship programmes. There are many different models of internships: academic content and credit value differed from institution to institution. Length of time, number of hours, student expectations all came under scrutiny. We used this meeting to feedback information from our lobbying of IND about the new immigration regulations. · March 2003: “The New Employment Law and US Study Abroad Programmes”; Syracuse hosted a session given by solicitor Sarah Linton of the firm Bryan Cave on changes in employment law and practice, with particular reference to part-time teaching staff. We raised the prospect of Bryan Cave working for the Association in legal matters, but judged that we were not yet ready to undertake such a financial commitment. · March 2003: “Cultural Visit to the British Library”: This meeting had to be cancelled because the only dates on offer were impossible for the membership. 2002-2003 is the first year in four when we did not undertake a cultural visit. · April 2003: “Problems and Issues of Direct-entry Programmes”: A re-run of a session hosted by California in 2002, this time hosted by Jaki Leverson of Tufts in London. A central objective was to get Mel McCarthy of London Metropolitan University, and Chair of BUTEX, to discuss the response of British universities to the Iraq war, and, in particular, to discuss emergency procedures that they had – if any – to evacuate students. Unfortunately Mel couldn’t find the meeting room at University College. · May 2003: “End of spring term social at the Uno Mundo Bar, ISH”: As I recall it was pretty well attended and lasted well into the night. · June 2003: “Summer term social at Truckles Wine Bar”: We had planned to take a canal boat trip in central London, that would be both entertaining and “cultural”. Unfortunately, too few people signalled their intention to join us so we switched to a more traditional and convenient venue, Truckles Wine Bar. · September 2003: “Meeting with the Counter-terrorism police”. Hosted by ISH. Andy Clancy, a policeman known to many programmes, is now part of the counter-terrorism section [SO-13] of the Metropolitan Police. He provided members with background to the terrorist issue in London, offered advice, and answered questions. We provided him with contact details of all AASAP members and he has placed us on a Metropolitan Police terrorist warning e-mail list. · September 2003: “New Directors/Staff Forum” Hosted by Ithaca College, it is the usual kick-off to the academic year. Not as well attended as in previous years, but still a vigorous discussion of issues and an opportunity to meet and compare notes with colleagues from other institutions. · September 2003: “Welcome Back Drinks Social”; An opportunity to renew acquaintances and to have a relaxing drink with colleagues during the stressful first few weeks of term. 3. The big issues that we face in 2003: · IMMIGRATION: A European Union ruling now requires that any non-EU/EEA citizen entering the UK [or any EU country] for more than 6 months must now get prior entry clearance at a UK consulate before entering the UK. The ruling comes into force on November 13th, 2003, although there might be some leeway for students arriving in January 2004. Meanwhile, guidelines for US students entering the UK for less than 6 months remain unchanged, i.e., they will routinely be landed as “visitors” to the UK. Such a status allows them to undertake their studies. If our students need, however, to be landed as students, Immigration Officers are under instruction to grant them leave to enter as students [code 2] so long as they request student status from the Immigration Officer at port of entry and satisfy entry requirements for students. To be so landed as students, they must have their paperwork in order and be full-time students as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. If they fail to get code 2 student status, they can ask to see a superior officer at the port of entry to argue their case. IND officials recognise that this solution is not always satisfactory. · FAILURE TO GET STUDENT STATUS at port of entry: On August 1st, 2003, new rules came into force for anyone trying to get student status after landing initially as a visitor. Such an individual must still apply on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate’s FLR(S) form, that is, the application for an extension of stay in the United Kingdom as a student or a student nurse. This application process now costs £155 if posted to the Public Enquiry Office, or £250 if the student takes the application in person to the Enquiry Office. AASAP/UK has argued against this procedure as our students are not seeking to extend their stay. It seems a very harsh punishment to pay either £155 or £250 when the initial mistake was probably made by the Immigration Officer. · UKCOSAs ADVICE: In its mail-out to members in September 2003, UKCOSA recommends the following solution to the problem of guaranteeing student status here in the UK. It will always be risky to rely too heavily on the good will of individual Immigration officers. It is better, therefore, to get our short-stay students to do what our longer-stay students now have to do, i,e., get prior entry clearance from a UK consulate in the UK.
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