Ideas
International Student Team is a university department whose main responsibility is to deal with/help students with any visa/immigration law related matters, for example, Right to Study Check, Visa Compliance, continuing students' CAS (visa sponsorship), withdrawing student visa sponsorship, conference visa sponsorship, etc,. Most of the staff in the department are with law backgrounds and are very professional and dedicated.
However, the name 'International Student Team' is very ambiguous and TOO BROAD/general.
International students would need support and advice of more aspects in their life in the UK, not only visa!
For example, housing, mental health (for example, home sickness), where to visit in Birmingham, shops nearby, safety, academic questions, inter-personal relations/cross-cultural relations, activities and representation etc,.
The International Student Team doesn't and wasn't designed to deal with any of these (except visa) directly as there are other departments in the University (Wellbeing Officers in Schools, Registry, Safety Hub...), but their current name indicates they could do everything for international students and it's very confusing.
Therefore, I have this idea of encouraging University to rename the International Student Team, for it to be more specific and accurate about visa and immigration, to improve students' experience and save some time when we need help and support.
Policy
Scrutiny
Have the Officer Team had conversation with the University on this, and what is the update?
Questions