邢唷> 869欹` bjbj鎳鎳 . 勴勴 R (, , , , , , ,  $hp ' , , ' ' , ,  ' ., , '  ,  餰宨DU  "0R 8k 8 8 L, | V d m, , , { , , , R' ' ' ' $   DATE \@ "dd MMMM yyyy" 18 May 2011 Dear Colleague Impact of the new UKBA regulations on our partners in non-English speaking countries Last week a number of interested staff from around the University of Edinburgh met to consider the recent changes to the UKBA regulations as they relate to English Language requirements and the admission of visiting exchange students. As you know the University of Edinburgh has a huge international student population and we therefore have to ensure that we meet the requirements of the UKBA in every detail - we certainly do not want to put at risk our Highly Trusted status. The University is very concerned about aspects of the new regulations and in particular the timing of their introduction. Colleagues who attended the meeting felt that the University had been put in an invidious position and that students who had been made offers in good faith were now no longer going to be able to gain entry to the country in spite of meeting the conditions of our original offer. We have taken up this point with the UKBA along with other institutions and we hope that our protests will have some impact. In the meantime students have to make decisions about their study arrangements for next year and clearly they cannot delay finalising their study plans until our discussions with UKBA have been resolved. With this in mind the meeting last week considered a number of options. It is important to reiterate that the University believes that it is obliged to meet the UKBA regulations according to the letter of the law - we cannot assume a liberal interpretation. We are aware that certain UKBA officials out of country have made statements about how the new rules can be interpreted but their interpretation has not been endorsed by the UKBA office in the UK. Bearing this in mind we suggest/recommend that any of your students who previously took the TOEFL test and who now fail to meet level B2 of the UKBA language requirements (because of the difference in the way this qualification has been interpreted under the new UKBA rules) now undertake an IELTS test as soon as possible. We recognise that the increased volume of students taking the IELTS test will mean that you/the students may not be able to provide the test results by the beginning of July. We are happy to extend this deadline and will ensure that accommodation offers etc are not affected by this decision. (Please note, however, that the UKBA is taking around 28 days to process visas so we would recommend that the students have their results by the end of July/early August in order to ensure arrival for the start of the academic year.) An alternative option is that we could arrange for your students to receive an offer for second semester entry to standard university courses with first semester being devoted to Pre-sessional English classes (students would then only need to meet the B1 requirements on entry rather than B2). This option, however, has some logistical implications. Students undertaking Pre-sessional English are not deemed to be fully matriculated students at the UofE and although we would ensure that accommodation places are made available to them and they would receive a transcript of results there would be services and facilities at the University which they could not access until 2nd semester. There may also be credit transfer issues for partner institutions and additional costs for the student to obtain an extension to their visa. Nevertheless it is an option that we could explore if you feel it would be appropriate. We recognise the problems that these new rules have created for our partners and want to try to minimise the impact to our partners and, the students whilst ensuring that we do not risk our Highly Trusted status with UKBA. Please let us know how you and your students would like to proceed. Sandra Morris Deputy Head International Office 57 George Square Edinburgh  HYPERLINK "mailto:Sandra.Morris@ed.ac.uk" Sandra.Morris@ed.ac.uk  !"-.567;EGyV }   ) 4  ]#%9T[8y{z}忸棠淘蕉蕉蕉蕉蕉蕉蕉蕉蕉蔣督督督督督督ńń督丁健 h簄hd4, h簄h蛗# h簄h h簄h3 h簄hg?h簄h簄5h簄hVat5 h簄hVat h簄h.th簄h簄mHnHujh簄h簄U h簄h簄?67FG $%z{:;Ij{ 7$8$H$gdg?o{;HI蜾蒡菀菽一逸h簄h簄h簄0Jjh簄h簄Ujh簄h簄U h簄h簄 h簄h蛗# h簄h3 h簄hg? h簄hd4,,1恏皞. 捌A!"#悹$悹%澳澳 惸D猩陏寕K Sandra.Morris@ed.ac.uk嗌陏寕K Tmailto:Sandra.Morris@ed.ac.ukyX侓;H,俔膮'cカ@@@ NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DA@D Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No List6U@6 簄 Hyperlink >*B*ph 67FG$%z { :;Ij{000000000000000000000000067$%z { ;y0 y0 s0 l安q0 y0y0y0{0y0{0y0{0  !-晞X 涄V溭V |澸V 肩炡V熩V <犣V |≮V艱②VＺV<ぺV|ペV奸V  jj{{   ""zz 8*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsCity:*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsStreet;*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsaddressV *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplacehttp://www.5iantlavalamp.com/Z *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceNamehttp://www.5iantlavalamp.com/Z *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceTypehttp://www.5iantlavalamp.com/B*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagscountry-region 鳶  2 ; > B  3  簄蛗#d4,恜W.tVatdg?鱄3~3 @99 99@UnknownG噝 Times New Roman5Symbol3& 噝 Arial"q鸚h螔鮢螔鮢[r [r $亖24d2HX)?g?2Last week a number of interested staff from around the University of Edinburgh met to consider the recent changes to the UKBA regulations as they relate to English Language requirementssandramclare swindells鄥燆鵒h珣+'遲0(\hx     Last week a number of interested staff from around the University of Edinburgh met to consider the recent changes to the UKBA regulations as they relate to English Language requirementssandramNormalclare swindells2Microsoft Office Word@2~@d&ND@d&ND[r 脹諟.摋+,D脹諟.摋+, hp  Desktop Services Last week a number of interested staff from around the University of Edinburgh met to consider the recent changes to the UKBA regulations as they relate to English Language requirements Title 8@ _PID_HLINKSAt3mailto:Sandra.Morris@ed.ac.uk   !"$%&'()*,-./0125Root Entry F 慽D7Data 1Table8WordDocument. 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