This inspection examined how the immigration system serves the
needs of the higher education sector, rather than focusing
narrowly on the operational functions within the Home Office.
Publishing the report, David Neal said:
I welcome the publication of this report, which looks at how the
immigration system relates to the Higher Education sector. To
facilitate the movement of international students and staff, the
higher education sector is reliant on the Home Office for an
efficient and effective immigration system.
The inspection found that the Home Office was performing well
overall and has developed good levels of engagement with
representative bodies and higher education institutions.
Collaborative working and consultation with external stakeholders
has fed into the development of new routes, Simplification of the
Immigration Rules and changes to associated guidance.
However, the Home Office should look to review the services
provided by the Premium Customer Service Teams. Currently there
is a disconnect between what the Home Office envisaged the
service offer to be and what the higher education sector expected
from that offer. This could be resolved through engagement
between both parties to draw up a collaborative and agreed set of
service expectations.
Also, compliance requirements were considered by stakeholders to
be overly burdensome. The Home Office should reassess whether
their current expectations are proportionate with the risks posed
by international students.
I made three recommendations in this report. I am pleased that
the Home Office accepted all of these recommendations in full and
that work is already underway to tackle the issues raised.
