Surveys developed by the Student Immigration team at the University have helped to focus UK Government and media attention on issues experienced by students with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The Oxford-designed student survey results have highlighted the impact of lengthy delays to Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) clearance via the FCDO, and are being used to build momentum for change. Offer-holders who need to apply for ATAS clearance via the FCDO due to sensitive areas of their research have faced lengthy delays over the last two years, and Oxford’s work is expected to help the process.
ATAS applications have sometimes taken five months or longer to process instead of the usual 30 working days, causing considerable inconvenience for offer-holders, their supervisors and department and college staff. Oxford designed a student survey to collate feedback on the impact of these long delays and to provide firm quantitative evidence of the scale of the problem to the FCDO. The survey template was shared with other Higher Education Institutions for students and for researchers (employees who have needed ATAS since 2021). Over 1,450 survey responses were analysed from across the Russell Group and as a result, were presented to Government Ministers to lobby for changes to the ATAS application system.
The student and staff surveys have helped to focus media and Government attention on this issue with;
The FCDO had previously not accepted the scale of the problem but the survey results are now building a real momentum for change.
The University had also put some mitigations in place in 2022 after long delays in 2021; including a recommended latest application date, new training courses for staff, an ATAS briefing paper for supervisors and improved web resources and FAQs for students. The comparison of survey results from 2021 to 2022 showed these mitigations encouraged students to apply much earlier in 2022.
