Posts Tagged ‘Goldsmiths’

For the fifth consecutive year, Goldsmiths’ College has featured prominently in the Turner Prize 2010 shortlist. Vying for the £40,000 prize are former student Angela de la Cruz and lecturer Kodwo Eshun from the Otolith Group.

Spanish-born de la Cruz’s solo exhibition ‘After’ at Camden Arts Centre, London, earned her the nomination for the shortlist.  Known for her abstract paintings and sculptures, she damages her artwork to reveal human frailties with titles such as ‘Ashamed’. She attended the College from 1991-1994 for her BA (Hons) in Fine Art.

“Awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding.”

Founded in 2001 by SOAS graduate Anjalika Sager and Kodwo Eshun, the Otolith Group work with “media archives, histories of futurity, the legacies of non-alignment and tricontinentalism.” The group have been nominated for their mixed-media exhibition ‘A Long Time Between Suns’ at Gasworks and The Showroom, London.  The duo creates film-essays which fuse science fiction with social commentary, such as a film of sweatshop workers in Mumbai.

Dr Richard Noble, head of Goldsmiths’ Art Department, commented: “We congratulate both Angela and Kodwo, and we are honoured that two such brilliant artists have been associated with our programmes.”

Tate Britain will host an exhibition of the shortlisted artists from 4 October 2010.  The winner will be announced on 6 December.

A campaign launched by students and staff at Goldsmiths opposed to the government’s Points-Based System of Immigration (PBSI) has been taken up by students at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

The Students not Suspects campaign aims to counter the current regulations, which members say are “a serious threat to campus democracy and freedom of speech”.

Several academic departments at both Goldsmiths and SOAS have so far signed up to a statement of opposition to the current immigration rules. Goldsmiths students are being encourage to send a personal email to the newly appointed Warden, Pat Loughrey, expressing their concerns about the implementation of PBSI at Goldsmiths.

Some tutors at both institutions have refused to take electronic registers because the university could be requested to hand over attendance records of international students to the UK Border Agency.

Goldsmiths have hosted several meetings featuring speakers supportive of the campaign including Helena Kennedy QC and veteran MP Tony Benn.

The Labour government, and all major parties competing for votes in the general election, have made clamping down on immigration a major theme and all have suggested methods to control and limit it. In recent months the media has paid great attention to the issuing student visas in particular, and apparent abuses of the system.

A preliminary statement drawn up by the SOAS campaign states that current immigration rules damage the academic environment and encourage suspicion of students from overseas. Campaigners say they harm the “relationship of trust between students and staff” and “introduce yet another layer of bureaucracy and surveillance” as well as restricting international exchange because of financial requirements. SOAS students plan to launch the campaign on May 11^th in the KLT.

A joint meeting of staff and students was held at Goldsmiths on January 13th to discuss ways to campaign against the government’s Points-Based immigration System (PBS).

Chaired by Goldsmiths Students’ Union (GSU), NUS and UCU representatives, the meeting put forward the possibility of organised non-compliance with the government legislation, which requires Universities to monitor and report on the non-attendance of international students to the United Kingdom Borders Agency (UKBA).

Recently, Economics lecturers at SOAS also voted unanimously to refuse to hand-over attendance records to School management.

Since 1st April 2009, students from outside the European Union have faced more stringentrequirements when applying for a student visa to study in the UK. An applicant must now fulfil a points quota, currently 40 for Tier 4 general students, which rests on their ability to prove that they have an offer of a place at a bona fide UK educational institution and sufficient finances to support themselves for the duration of their stay.

For many students the latter requirement means that they must have more than £17,000 in the bank before commencing their studies.  In addition they must also apply for a biometric identity card, which contains a copy of their fingerprints, and must register with the police upon their arrival in the country.

The regulations also put an added pressure upon universities to monitor their international students and staff. From November 2008, universities wishing to offer places to non-EU students and academics had to apply for a licence from the UKBA.

Students can be deported on the basis of the information that a university provides, and police have the power to raid the premises of any educational institution that they believe to be withholding information on their international members.

Critics of the system, including the UCU, highlight the fact that in effect it requires university lecturers and administration staff to become agents of the state. They also believe that it is being used as a test-run for the wider introduction of the government’s already controversial identity card scheme.

International students have reported becoming caught up in a frustrating and costly bureaucratic process. Once in the UK, they are vulnerable to clerical errors. At the meeting, the case was raised of one Goldsmiths student from New Zealand who was deported due to a misunderstanding over her nationality. After student pressure, she is returning to resume her studies next year.

Other proposals put forward at the Goldsmiths meeting were the creation of a blog to collate the experiences of staff and students affected by the legislation, along with department-specific campaigns to highlight the problem, such as art exhibitions and drama productions.

The Points-Based System was initially brought in following fears that the s­­tudent visa system was open to abuse by those seeking illicit entry into the UK.

The Conservatives have recently indicated that they would strengthen the current laws if they were to win the upcoming general election.

Under Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling’s proposals, students from countries such as Pakistan and Nigeria would be subjected to additional scrutiny by immigration officials. International students would also be required to pay deposits of thousands of pounds, to be held throughout their stay in the UK.

International students make a significant contribution to the finances of universities in the UK, with figures published in the Financial Times suggesting that they are worth up­­ to £8.5bn a year to the UK economy.