All posts by David Powell

Student voice

Make your voice heard!

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national student survey -web banner

If you are a final year undergraduate student, this is your chance to have your say!

The National Student Survey is a national, independent survey which evaluates your whole student experience. The purpose of the survey is to provide publicly available information for future students about what you think of the University’s services and courses. It’s your opportunity to provide honest feedback about your whole student experience.

Plus, for every survey completed the University will donate £2 to your RAG charities, so that’s even more reason to give your feedback. Last year we raised over £10,000 and we’re hoping to beat that in 2015.

So don’t miss your chance to make your voice heard – the deadline for completing the survey is 30 April 2015.

Find out more here.

Support

Want to save up to £60 a month on food bills?…

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…then come to the Love Food Hate Waste workshop!

The Love Food Hate Waste campaign tells us that: “Food waste is a major issue. We throw away 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year, the majority of which could have been eaten. It’s costing us £12.5bn a year and is bad for the environment too.”

So, if you or anyone you know wants to:

  • Learn how to save up to £60 a month on your food bills
  • Reduce your impact on the environment
  • Make better use of your time by managing your food better at home?

Food3…then please come along to the free workshop on Tuesday 12 May in Cantor 9016 between 10am and 1.15pm. Places are limited, so book your place on the session. Please email Marion Homer on ailsa.guard@wrap.org.uk if you’d like to attend the session and put ‘Sheffield Hallam 12th May’ in the title.

Support

Warning – telephone scam

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warning

We have received news that there is a scam targeting international students.

This scam follows a similar pattern to previous scams:

  • A student receives a call from someone pretending to be from the Home Office
  • The incoming number appears to match a genuine Home Office number
  • The student is told that there is a problem with their visa and that they need to pay a fine and/or give the caller personal information and contact details
  • Some students are also told that they will be visited by a Home Office official

Please remember that the Home Office will never call an international student to request payments or ask for personal details in this way.  DO NOT make payments or give information to anyone calling you like this.

Employability, Student voice

Psychometric tests for Chinese students (Profiling for Success)

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Have you experienced taking a verbal or numerical psychometric test in the UK? Have you wondered what your score would have been if the test had been in Mandarin? Would you like to compare your results across both languages?

The Careers and Employment Service are taking part in a research project to try to answer such questions and would like to ask for your participation.  In return you will not only get the chance to practise some of these tests but you will also receive a report that we hope you will find useful.

To learn more about this opportunity please attend a briefing session on Tuesday 28 April at 1pm at the Careers and Employability Centre. The briefing will last just under an hour and you will have chance to view some of the test reports . The tests that are available for you to take are

  • Verbal reasoning
  • Numerical reasoning
  • Abstract reasoning
  • Personality Type Indicator

To find out more please book in using this link.

If you are unable to attend this session but would like to find out more please contact Karen Allan, Employment Adviser on K.Allan@shu.ac.uk

 

Employability, Immigration

Want to work in the UK after your studies?

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Would you like some visa advice?
If yes, then book a place on our Working in the UK after studies workshop.

We will look at all the possible visa routes for international graduates into full time work including:

• Tier 2 Scheme
• Tier 1 graduate entrepreneur
• Tier 5

The workshop will also focus on how to improve your employability and how you can make the most out of your time at Sheffield Hallam University. We will explain the visa rules and how to maximise your chances of success.

The next workshops will take place in the Careers and Employability Centre (unless otherwise stated):

To attend, you must book your place in advance by following one of the links above.

Immigration

Is your visa due to expire soon?

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If you do not book a one-to-one appointment to see an immigration adviser at least 2 weeks before your visa is due to expire, then we may not be able to assist you with your application and you will have to send your documents off yourself.

You must attend a group session before you can book a one-to-one appointment.

It is important that you attend a group session at least 2 months before your visa is due to expire. You will be unable to get a CAS application form if you have not attended a group session.

The next group sessions will be taking place as follows:

April

  • Tuesday 28 – 10am

May

  • Thursday 7 – 2pm
  • Tuesday 12 – 10am
  • Thursday 21 – 2pm

June

  • Thursday 4 – 2pm
  • Tuesday 9 – 10am
  • Thursday 18 – 2pm
  • Tuesday 23 – 10am

Please come to the Student Services Centre, Level 5 Owen or Heart of the Campus to book on to a group session.

Employability, Immigration, Support

Important changes affecting International Students

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Here are a number of changes which may affect you if you are an International Student:

Exit Checks
From 8 April 2015, the Home Office will check the immigration status of those leaving, as well as entering, the UK.

Information about passengers who travel using scheduled commercial flights will be gathered in the same way as now, using advance passenger information. There will be more checks than usual for those travelling in other ways, for example, by train or ferry, so allow more time to go through immigration controls before your departure.

The Home Office has published guidance about how exit checks should work: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/exit-checks-on-passengers-leaving-the-uk

Who is entitled to free NHS care from 6 April 2015?
The rules about who is entitled to free hospital treatment from the NHS (National Health Service) are changing on 6 April 2015.  UKCISA has produced a useful summary about hospital treatment that starts on or after 6 April 2015. Please note that this information might still change, and we will keep you updated.

http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/International-Students/Study-work–more/Health-and-healthcare/Who-is-entitled-to-free-hospital-treatment-after-6-April-2015/

Spring Immigration rules changes
There are various changes to the immigration rules from April 2015. You can read a summary of those changes here:

http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/studentnews/455/Spring-Immigration-Rules-changes

Work visa rules changes
You can read about changes to work visas which might be relevant to you after you graduate here:

 http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/studentnews/454/April-work-changes

 

Welcome

This Week’s News

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Monday 30 March 2015

In this week’s edition…
Social
Student Voice
  • If you are a Commonwealth student, there’s still time to register to vote. Don’t leave it too late!
Employability
  • If you are interested in working full-time in the UK after you graduate, then Working in the UK after studies sessions provide information about Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 5 visa routes.
Support
Immigration
  • The visa fees increased proposed by the Home Office will come into effect from April 2015.  Find out more here to see if this affects you.
  • Is your visa due to expire soon? You must attend a group session.

 

Best wishes,

International Student Support Team

Immigration

Visa fee increase – starting April

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The Home Office have published information on the proposed visa fee increases from April 2015.

Please be aware that if your Tier 4 visa is due to expire after 5 April 2015, the new fee you will have to pay from 6 April 2015 will be £439 instead of £422.

The following application fees are also increasing:

 Tier 1 Graduate entrepreneur will increase from £422 to £456;

Tier 2 General will increase from £601 to £651;

BRP replacement will increase from £40 to £45;

Transfer of Conditions will increase from £107 to £183