{"id":606,"date":"2018-05-24T21:55:43","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T21:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=606"},"modified":"2018-07-30T22:15:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T22:15:55","slug":"garys-shorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/24\/garys-shorts\/","title":{"rendered":"GARY\u2019S SHORTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

MORE TIER 4 TEARS<\/span><\/p>\n

In subtext 177, we reported that the Home Office has rejected UA92\u2019s application to become a Tier 4 Visa sponsor for international students. Now, word reaches us that Lancaster has come up with a cunning plan. It\u2019s really quite simple. We will use our own Tier 4 sponsorship licence to recruit international students to study at UA92. After all, it is argued, don\u2019t we do the same for some Study Group International students, who belong to a separate organisation? It is certainly the case that many Study International students come here under Lancaster\u2019s Tier 4 licence, though some are also eligible under Study Group International\u2019s own licence. They follow foundation or pre-sessional programmes to prepare for\u00a0 Lancaster degrees, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. They live on the same campus as other students, are covered by the same rules, and have access to the same library, IT facilities, sporting, and social facilities. All the structures to support their learning and welfare are in place in order to meet Home Office requirements. By contrast, UA92 is still awaiting planning permission to lay the first brick.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Home Office is unlikely to be impressed by Lancaster\u2019s special pleading. In its latest guidance on \u2018Sites and teaching partnerships\u2019 issued earlier this month, it is made clear that there has to be \u2018a direct relationship between a sponsor and the student they are sponsoring\u2019. Furthermore, \u2018an institution which teaches Tier 4 students must take responsibility for sponsoring them\u2019, a requirement that would rule out Lancaster – the whole point of UA92 is that it will be responsible for delivering its own degree programmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Lancaster really is considering this approach to Tier 4 approval, we should be aware of what we may be risking: \u2018Arrangements or partnerships that circumvent the Immigration Rules or this guidance will be considered to be an abuse of the Tier 4 sponsorship system, and compliance action may be taken against the Tier 4 sponsor and\/or its partner in such circumstances\u2019. In other words – don\u2019t take the piss. It\u2019s not as if the Home Office is renowned for its flexibility or sensitivity to individual circumstances when it comes to migration matters (see above).<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

LET IT GO, GARY<\/span><\/p>\n

In subtext 177 we reported on Gary\u2019s rather graceless responses to the probable demise of his development plans for the Turn Moss green area as a result of the Conservative loss of Trafford Council. He said then that he would put this behind him and seek new areas where his valiant efforts would be more appreciated. But, rather like that other thin-skinned self-obsessive across the Atlantic, it seems that he just can\u2019t leave it alone, and continues to air his hurt feelings on Twitter and in the local and national media.<\/span><\/p>\n

He told the BBC that he \u2018was \u201cinsulted\u201d by the suggestion that the club wanted to take anything out of the community\u2019, and that the local opposition was \u2018selfish\u2019 and \u2018politically motivated\u2019. The Mirror reported him as saying to local campaigners: \u2018Once this campaign ends you will fade into your old world again\u2019. He gave a long self-justifying interview to local listings guide Manchester Confidential, whose write-up was described by one Trafford resident as being \u2018so far up GN\u2019s arse it should come with a free Davy lamp\u2019. The same article was re-tweeted approvingly by Sean Anstee, the ousted Conservative leader of Trafford Council, who accused the local resistance of creating \u2018a highly politicised angry environment to the detriment of today\u2019s young people\u2019. Clearly, that\u2019s the last thing that\u2019s needed in Manchester \u2013 politics in election campaigns!<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, Trafford Labour has done a deal with the Lib Dems and has now formed an administration. The Turn Moss plans are now dead in the water, and the main UA92 campus plans will be called back in for review. UA92\u2019s future is not bright.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

WHERE\u2019S THE LEADER?<\/span><\/p>\n

Folk in Lancaster and Manchester are asking what\u2019s happened with the appointment of the \u2018Principal\/Chief Executive Officer\u2019 for UA92. As we reported in subtext 175, the post was advertised with much fanfare by fancy recruitment agency Anderson Quigley, and interviews were scheduled for 27 April. That was four weeks ago and since then, silence. Did the interviews even take place? If they did, was anyone appointed? If so, have they changed their mind? Given the growing uncertainty of UA92 ever getting off the ground, it wouldn\u2019t surprise us if someone currently in a secure position would be having second thoughts about heading up such a risky enterprise. In the meantime, it looks like Professor Simon Guy will just have to soldier on as Acting Principal\/Chief Executive Officer. But for how long? He is due to return as FASS Faculty Dean in August, and it is not clear how much longer he will be willing to put his academic career on hold just to help Gary.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

SCOUSE SABBATICAL<\/span><\/p>\n

This Saturday, all eyes will be on the final of the European Champions League, as Liverpool seeks to wrest the trophy from Real Madrid. If things go Liverpool\u2019s way, then Gary Neville is in line for a well-deserved break from his current UA92 tribulations. Last week, he declared: ‘If Liverpool win the European Cup and Chelsea beat United in the FA Cup Final, I might go travelling for a year \u2013 somewhere where there\u2019s no wifi or mobile phone signal’.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to a Chelsea penalty goal at Wembley, it now falls to Liverpool to make Gary\u2019s dream come true. But you can never underestimate Real Madrid, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Ronaldo\u2019s boys will be doing their utmost to ensure that the world of academia is not deprived of Gary\u2019s Vision. Should be a cracking game.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MORE TIER 4 TEARS In subtext 177, we reported that the Home Office has rejected UA92\u2019s application to become a Tier 4 Visa sponsor for international students. Now, word reaches us that Lancaster has come up with a cunning plan. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[277,106,53,56,349,332,350,46,348,331,54],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-special-feature","tag-anderson-quigley","tag-football","tag-football-university","tag-gary-neville","tag-home-office","tag-issue-178","tag-principal","tag-simon-guy","tag-study-group","tag-tier-4-visas","tag-ua92"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-9M","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":566,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/10\/ua92-updates-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":606,"position":0},"title":"UA92 UPDATES","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 10 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"TRAFFORD ELECTION TREAT As predicted in subtext 176, opposition to Gary Neville's plans to colonise Turn Moss, the Stretford open green area, proved to be crucial in overturning the Conservative majority on Trafford Council, with Labour gaining four seats and the Greens (unexpectedly) gaining two seats. One of Labour's first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":640,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/06\/07\/special-report-whos-calling\/","url_meta":{"origin":606,"position":1},"title":"SPECIAL REPORT: WHO’S CALLING?","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"June 7 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It's hard to keep up with how Gary Neville is getting on with his university, UA92, what with the lack of information or active verbs on its website. We usually rely on the national press, local election results, and Twitter meltdowns (subtext 177) to keep abreast of what he's up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":773,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/10\/11\/spawt-nothing-compares-to-ua92\/","url_meta":{"origin":606,"position":2},"title":"SPAWT: NOTHING COMPARES TO UA92","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 11 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On 27 September the University provided staff with another update on progress with its UA92 project. Senior managers were present to give us a most positive spin on the work which has taken place over the last year; including Simon Guy, FASS Dean and Interim Principal for 2017-18, and Craig\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1483,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2021\/02\/19\/inglorious-partnerships\/","url_meta":{"origin":606,"position":3},"title":"Inglorious Partnerships","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Contributed article Lancaster University's penchant for entering into partnerships on vague promises of internationalisation, i.e. how to increase overseas tuition fees, is well known (see subtexts passim ad nauseam). One doesn't need to be reminded of COMSATS, or Goenka, or indeed several other partnerships that didn't live to see the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1094,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/11\/01\/when-im-ua64\/","url_meta":{"origin":606,"position":4},"title":"WHEN I’M UA64","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"After all the hype, UA92 is now open and teaching inside a refurbished Kellogg's cereal factory in Stretford, where we hope the students are all having a 'grrreat!' time. The staff-student ratio is certainly looking impressive - almost Oxbridge-like - although this seems to owe more to the under-recruitment of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":571,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/10\/subtext-177-be-realistic-and-demand-the-impossible\/","url_meta":{"origin":606,"position":5},"title":"subtext 177 – ‘be realistic and demand the impossible’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 10 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial,\u00a0sports (x3), local government (x2), tech, senate, horticulture, justice (x2), buildings, grads, buses, activism, loans, noise, shart attack, widden, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL Once again, subtext has an avalanche of news stories regarding the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}