BLC Blog

Our Junior Summer Programme is now in full swing as we reach the end of week two. Students have shown great progress with their English language learning, particularly with grammar and vocabulary, they have made lots of new friends and enjoyed exciting local projects such learning about the infamous Banksy.

Junior Summer Programme

The busy social programme kicked off with a trip to our local city museum, which has a diverse range of exhibitions – students took part in a workshop of Egyptian artefacts, learnt about Bristol at war and saw some 20^th Century art. On Tuesday it was off to the fantastic Cabot Circus shopping centre – home to the exclusive Harvey Nicholls as well as all the typical high street shops. The MShed was on the itinerary for Wednesday: a brand new museum by the river which tells the stories of Bristol. The next day the S.S. Great Britain was our destination as no trip to Bristol is complete without seeing this famous ship, which is part of our maritime history and has been turned into an interactive museum. A visit to the eclectic St Nicholas Market was on the cards on Friday, then a trip to London brought the week to a close, taking in all the major sights. A good week had by all.

The Bristol Language Centre opened its doors for the summer season last Monday, when over 100 students arrived in one day! They were all tested to be placed in classes according to their level and lessons began at the local City of Bristol College campus.

The week so far has included a visit to @Bristol: a state of the art science centre, a tour of the world-famous Brunel Suspension Bridge, a trip to the UNESCO world heritage site of Bath, sports and a Barbecue in the park and a Pirate-themed day where the students dressed up and saw where Treasure Island was written.

And if that’s not all, tomorrow they are off to Cheddar Gorge – one of the West country’s true gems, with stunning scenery and history, world famous caves and a museum. Let’s hope the staff get some rest on Sunday whilst the students enjoy a day with their host families, ready for the next fun-packed week of the programme!

The next phase of changes to the Tier 4 student visas began on the 4^th July 2011, as outlined in our earlier blog from March. From now on the UKBA are going to make the following changes which will affect English language schools:

• restrict work entitlements to migrants studying at higher educational institutions (HEIs) and publicly funded further education colleges only;
• restrict the sponsorship of dependants to those studying at postgraduate level at HEIs on courses lasting at least 12 months, and government-sponsored students on courses lasting at least 6 months;
• require education providers to vouch that a new course represents genuine academic progression;
• ensure that maintenance funds are genuinely available to the applicant, by introducing a declaration on the visa application form;
• commit to publish a list of financial institutions that they consider, on the basis of experience, do not verify financial statements to their satisfaction;
• introduce a streamlined application process for low-risk nationals applying to attend courses with Highly Trusted Sponsors.

The Bristol Language Centre is classed as a Highly Trusted Sponsor by the UKBA. We work hard to ensure that students obtain the correct visa and are able to study with us. We issue CAS statements and visa letters for students’ visa applications and we can demonstrate genuine academic progression for students on our English language courses. For more information or to make an application for one of our courses please contact enq@thebristollanguagecentre.co.uk

For more information about visas please check the following links:

UKBA

English UK

We are now taking bookings for the University Foundation Programme for Business, starting in September 2011 - an excellent course for students who want to develop their English to progress to University.

Lasting 2 or 3 terms of 13 weeks each, it is validated by the University of Wales and successful graduates can go on to study at the following universities on a vast range of Business-related Bachelor degrees from BA (Hons) Business Studies with Economics, or BA (Hons) Advertising to even BA Law:

• De Montfort University, Leicester
• The University of West England
• Kingston University
• University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
• Canterbury Christ Church University
• University of Gloucester
• Bath Spa University
• Swansea Metropolitan University
• Brighton University
• Buckinghamshire New University

To gain a place you need a certificate allowing university matriculation in your home country and IELTS 4.5 equivalent.

The teaching team who are responsible for delivering the programme have at least 5 years of qualified teaching experience each. They have taught English all over the world to a variety of ages, abilities and nationalities and they have a wide range of qualifications between them such as the Trinity LTCL Diploma in TESOL, DELTA, an English Language Teaching BA, a Modern Languages BA and an MSc in International Management.

About the programme:

The programme is taught over three terms of 13 weeks each and consists of 10 modules:

1. English for Study (Term 1)
2. Study Skills (Terms 1 & 2)
3. Basic Numeracy (Term 1)
4. Basics of Business (Term 1)
5. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) (Terms 2&3)
6. Basics of Accounting and Finance (Term 2)
7. Basics of Organisations (Term 2)
8. IELTS preparation (Term 3)*
9. Basics of Marketing (Term 3)
10. Economics (Term 3)

* This is not a ‘true’ module as is not assessed by the centre, but is an external validation of the language level of our students.

Contact us for further course information: application@thebristollanguagecentre.co.uk and feel free to download our brochure to see all our other exciting English programmes available this year!

On Tuesday 22 March 2011, the government announced changes to the student visa route. The announcement follows a major public consultation on the reform of Tier Four - the student entry route to the UK of the Points Based System

Home Secretary Theresa May said:

“The changes I am announcing today re-focus the student route as a temporary one, available to only the brightest and best. The new system is designed to ensure students come for a limited period, to study not work, and make a positive contribution while they are here.”

The changes that are likely to impact on BLC are as follows:

* From April 2012 all institutions wanting to sponsor students will have to be classed as Highly Trusted Sponsors and become accredited by statutory education inspection bodies by the end of 2012
* those coming to study at degree level will have to speak English at an upper intermediate (B2) level
* students at universities and publicly funded further education colleges will retain current work rights but all other students will have no right to work, and there will continue to be restrictions on work placements at courses outside of universities

While the new measures are not ideal, they still allow for overseas students to study on courses at below degree level, and the extended Student Visitor Visa route remains in place. This means that students on an English language only course will be able to study for up to eleven months, with no entry level language requirement, and we continue to be able to offer the university progression routes for students on a Tier Four General Student Visa.

The Bristol Language Centre has already gained Highly Trusted Sponsor status, has close affiliations with several universities, and offers a university validated foundation programme. I feel therefore that we are well placed to meet the challenges of the new system, and will continue to simplify the process for our students and agents as much as possible, while working within the rules of the scheme.

Seonaid Birkett, Director

28/3/2011

Links:

www.englishuk.com/en/english-uk/press-centre/press-releases

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/

http://www.economist.com/node/18442053?story_id=18442053&CFID=160283152&CFTOKEN=75107617

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/alasdair-palmer/8408580/As-one-immigration-loophole-closes-another-opens.html)

February is often seen as a month in which very little happens and as being “just as long as is needed to pass the time to March”.

This year seems to have been different however – at least here at BLC. On 3rd February, we celebrated Chinese New Year. We left behind us the turbulent Year of the Tiger and entered the lucky Year of the Rabbit. While it seems that rabbit-like tranquility has not been reflected in world events, at BLC, we have been so far, so lucky. Well, actually we have been working very hard on delivering high quality courses to our current students, while working on just a few of our new projects for 2011. We have further developed our pre-sessional pathway courses, to give highly focused academic learning to our students who are planning to go on to university in the UK; we have developed a brand new class schedule for BLC evening courses, with launch events and promotions throughout March, and to top it all we are drawing up plans for a large expansion and refurbishment for BLC to be completed in the spring.

So, I wish you all good fortune with your plans for 2011 and as ever, keep in touch and watch for updates about all these and other BLC innovations, news and offers:

http://www.thebristollanguagecentre.co.uk/en/

http://www.facebook.com/BLC.Bristol

http://twitter.com/BLC_Bristol

Seonaid Birkett
Director, BLC

Happy New Year to all students, staff and agents of BLC.  We have two pieces of good news for the New Year to welcome you and BLC into 2011.  Firstly, The Bristol Language Centre has now gained Highly Trusted Sponsor status from the UK Border Agency (UKBA).  This is important both in terms of BLC’s reputation as being a quality provider of English language courses, as well as ensuring that we can continue to provide our university preparation courses, in particular the University Foundation Programmes.

http://www.thebristollanguagecentre.co.uk/en/daytime_courses.php

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/highly-trusted/

Secondly, from 10 January 2011, a new visa category, the Extended Student Visitor Visa (ESVV), will be available to students studying an English language course in the UK for up to 11 months.  Students on the ESVV will not be able to work in the UK or bring dependants into the UK, but this is a straightforward route for students wishing to study English language for an extended but fixed period of time.

http://ukimages.gmimage3.com/uk_members/5601/ftp/Attachments/Extended_Student_Visitor_Visa_-_FAQ.pdf

We are certain that these positive developments will contribute to making 2011 another successful year at BLC.

With best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2011

Seonaid Birkett

Director, BLC

“Beat the volcano” was the campaign with competition launched by The Bristol Language Centre in June in order to encourage students to make alternative travel to Bristol for summer language courses with the slogan “don’t let volcanic ash CLOUD your summer travel decisions”.

In July we have found our winner! Today we are proudly a sharing with you our very big well-done to Giorgio Pratofiorito from Italy, who is the winner of our BLC competition for submitting the best idea.

We were particularly impressed with Giorgio’s performance because of his young age! Giorgio attended The BLC Summer Junior Programme. Giorgio won an iPod Shuffle and appearance on our website BLC Blog.

We are happy to learn that Giorgio “came home proud of the prize he won and quite excited about the experience in Bristol”.
If you want to learn more about Giorgio’s idea, read an interview with our winner!

http://www.thebristollanguagecentre.co.uk/docs_content/19.pdf

Magdalena and Giorgio at The BLC after interview and prize handing 

English UK’s victory at the High Court on 9th of July 2010 regarding the level of English language required for General student visas under the points based visa system, was unexpectedly overturned, effective 23rd July 2010. This means that the level of English language required for British General Student Visas, for students who are below degree level, has again been raised to level CEFR (Common European Framework) B1, equivalent to an intermediate level. While there is still the option of the Student Visitor visa for students on courses of 6 months or less, which has no level requirement, the reinstatement of the level requirement at CEFR B1 (intermediate level) will affect many students wanting to come to the UK to learn English, and creates some concerns about the effect on local economies. In addition, many students may choose to study in alternative destinations, outside the UK, which do not have such stringent visa requirements. At BLC we have streamlined our applications process to make it as efficient as possible, and are focusing on university preparation courses. This, together with the development of online preparation courses, means that we are well placed to respond to student needs in challenging times, and continue to do well.

Link to UKBA site

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/2010/july/45-changes-to-t4

We are delighted to announce that on Friday 9th July 2010, English UK won a High Court Judical Review case on English language courses under the points based visa system. Following this ruling UK language schools can now issue Tier 4 visas for students at CEFR level A1 for courses leading to A2 with immediate effect. This means that all students of level A1 (Elementary) and above will be able to apply for General Student Visas to study English language in the UK. We look forward to receiving more students from you!

Judgement document in full

http://www.englishuk.com/uploads/repository/news/English_UK_-_Judgment_9.7.10.pdf

English UK Wins judical review case

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10569701