INTO This Week 47

Andrew writes: It doesn't seem like long ago that INTO was started during a small team meeting at the University of East Anglia. Everyone involved was forward thinking, creative and looking for ways to capitalise upon the opportunities presented by the fast-changing international HE landscape.

As we turn five years old, it's staggering to think about the scale of our achievements. We have more than 700 members of staff working within our centres. One centre with 392 commencements in 2006 has grown to ten with over 7,000 commencements in 2009/10.

I'm tremendously proud of these achievements but as I visit our centres across the UK and US I'm also humbled by the commitment everyone shows to creating world-class learning environments and an unbeatable experience for our students. Often our plans for a new joint venture start life as sketches on beer mats or napkins, but without the meticulous planning and attention to detail from everyone involved these plans would never come to fruition.

Working in partnership with university colleagues we have reshaped and redefined the nature of international study with students, agents, university staff and local residents all playing a part in the INTO story. I think everyone would agree that it's better being an international student at one of our partner universities now than it was five years ago; and that's down to the efforts of our partners and staff. Our partnerships have raised standards and ensured that students' individual needs and interests are being met and surpassed.

Watching a new INTO building under development brings these changes home in a very tangible way. As he watched construction begin on the new INTO UEA study centre in 2008, Director of Global Recruitment Services, Steven Smale, was in tears. When you've worked in the sector for a long time you know things can be done better, and seeing the launch of new and innovative facilities brings those aspirations into reality. The feeling is the same when you look at INTO Exeter, INTO UEA London, the refurbishment of INTO Queen's, and soon INTO Newcastle and INTO OSU, and INTO Scotland to follow.

Students have given INTO and its partner universities a clear vote of confidence. There were an astounding 7,179 commencements in 2009/10, 89% student satisfaction, and 89% progression of our students to higher education. While we are quite rightly pleased about these results, we all know they can do even better. Thankfully we're still as eager to break moulds and find innovative solutions as when we first started out- good news given the higher education sector is still undergoing constant growth and change. There's a lot of scope for creative business development in the years ahead that INTO and its partners will certainly be able to harness.

Of course, in the UK we are in a very different situation to that of 2006.  Publicly funded institutions are unable to meet the world-wide demand for higher education and private investment has become more and more active but often without the underpinning of quality that universities offer. Our public-private sector partnership model is increasingly cited as providing a unique response to the market's demand for a solution that brings capacity and capability alongside quality in a sustainable way. It is a model that can drive the sector forward over the coming decades.

So what do the next five years look like? I know that there is further growth ahead, and that there will be more partnerships. Challenges will always face us in a competitive market but we have built very solid foundations as the joint-ventures begin to meet and exceed their business plans. It's hard to say exactly where we will be in 2016, but I have no doubt that new areas of business will open up and our UK programmes will continue to mature and bring new innovation. The opportunities in the US are enormous and we have active discussions under way with potential partners in Asia.

It's an exciting future to contemplate and a great moment to pause and reflect on all we have achieved together. Along with all my colleagues on the board, I would particularly like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped us reach this point and to wish you all the best as we embark on the next stage of the INTO journey.

"Colleagues at INTO and in our partner universities have been working tirelessly to ensure that we reach a sensible outcome to the UKBA consultation - which ensures that Tier 4 students entering the UK do so for the purpose of study, but which encourages and protects the interests of genuine students," said Tim O'Brien, Director of Student Experience and coordinator of INTO's campaign against the changes.

"Britain needs to remain open for business for international students - and with your help and support we will continue to lobby and work with the Government to ensure this is exactly what happens," he added.

So far the campaign has focused on two key areas - lobbying Members of Parliament, ministers and Government officials directly, and raising the issue in the UK media.

Student immigration has been debated vigorously in parliament, and the influential Home Affairs Committee, chaired by Keith Vaz MP, has been collecting evidence on the potential impact of the Tier 4 changes from Professors Acton (UEA) and Smith (Exeter) of Universities UK; Tony Millns, Chief Executive of English UK; Aaron Porter, President of the National Union of Students; Dominic Scott, Chief Executive of UKCISA; and Damian Green, Immigration Minister. Migration Watch, who seek to curb net migration in the UK, have also been consulted. Read a full copy of the evidence given by Professors Acton and Smith here

INTO Centre Directors and large numbers of INTO staff have been involved in campaigns to contact local MPs and media outlets. INTO UEA managed to highlight the issue with local MPs, and was mentioned in Parliament after Conservative MP Richard Bacon visited the centre as an advocate. See footage from Parliamentary TV here

In addition five Norfolk MPs have written to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, outlining concerns and requesting a formal response, while Queen's University has submitted evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly. INTO continues to coordinate its lobbying activities closely with Universities UK, partner universities, other pathway providers and key sector organisations.

The issue has also received widespread media exposure, including a number of features in the Financial Times - one of Britain's most influential newspapers - calling on the Government to do more to attract international students to the UK rather than creating additional visa hurdles. There has been additional coverage on the BBC website and in the The Economist, Times Higher Education supplement and Guardian newspaper

As we reported earlier this month, it is feared that if changes to the Tier 4 points-based system go ahead, the number of pre-degree level students entering the UK will be significantly reduced - something that will hit pre-degree level providers like INTO, the wider HE sector, and even the UK economy.

Tim O'Brien said this week: "Did you know that INTO students alone are worth more than £400million in terms of tuition fees to INTO and UK universities, plus expenditure in the British economy? That more than 46% of all international students in UK universities have come through a pathway of some form or another? Or that higher education is Britain's seventh largest export earner, worth more than £10billion to the economy?"

Signalling the extent of concern over proposed changes to student visas, a UK Government consultation review received a total of 31,000 written responses by the time it closed on January 31st. Said Tim: "That is an astonishingly large number for a review of this nature, and illustrates how successful we've been in marshalling opinion around what is a vital export success for the UK."

He added: "To all of those who have completed a consultation response, written to their MP, or participated in hosting visits from UKBA and others to our centres, thank you! Your efforts are being noticed, and I would hope the Government recognizes the value of the work we do in helping secure economic recovery in the UK, and in protecting our world-leading education sector."

It is clear the campaign is having an impact and INTO remains cautiously optimistic that the Government will not implement some of the more damaging proposals of the review. However nothing can be taken for granted, and for now the lobbying continues. We will update you as the story develops.