31 January 2011

The Medical Schools Council broadly welcomes the need to develop the regulations on student immigration. However, we have a number of concerns about the proposed changes around:

Clinical placements: A key concern relates to the proposed reduction of the proportion of time that is allowed to be spent on work placements (question 12). This proposal is worrying for medical schools due to the importance of clinical placements to their programmes
 
Retaining the attractiveness of UK medical degrees: The Medical Schools Council is extremely concerned that the Post Study Work route should not be closed as it is a major part of the offering of UK higher education (HE). Medical schools must remain internationally competitive and able to attract the best students to study in the UK.

Administrative burden for HE institutions: It is important to note that just 2% of Tier 4 university students were estimated to be non-compliant placing increased burden on institutions to respond to relatively low levels of abuse in the system appears unfair. The UKBA should be mindful of any additional burden the changes to Tier 4 will place on HE institutions.

The Medical Schools Council response

UKBAConsultationResponse31.01.11.pdf

If you have any questions about the response please contact us.