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Mandelson admits they sent out search parties to get immigrants to work in UK.

Bloody Blair and his cronies have a lot to answer for, but of course, none of this affects them in their ivory towers :angry:
 
Absolutely no details in that 'article' that specifies what these 'search parties' were and what they did.

Here's an email I received yesterday from our Vice Chancellor at work. It's quite long so I've made bold the bits that stand out

As part of our Learning and Teaching Strategy, The University of Sheffield affirms a list of attributes and qualities to be found in the Sheffield Graduate. These goals for the best educational experience we could offer to our students included the characteristics of being 'an active citizen who respects diversity' and an educated person who is 'culturally agile and able to work in multinational settings'.

It is the University's conviction that being part of an international community is itself an education, and that when students make the most of opportunities to learn from those who are different to themselves, they gain insights they would not experience any other way. For us, diversity is an asset. We cite the number of countries on campus - over 130 at the last count - as a source of pride.

Yet it is easy to forget that our pleasure in our international community is not universal. As last week's local elections and this weekend's tabloids show, there is a sense that a tide is turning in British public opinion. In articles about schools and higher education, there are concerns about local resources and the impact of diversity on the host community. Our experience of the great benefits brought by colleagues and students from around the world is absent from this discourse, and the foreigner is all too easily seen as alien.

These thoughts played on my mind when I joined my son last week on a trip to the cinema to watch the new Star Trek movie. I enjoyed it but it also awakened in me a sense of nostalgia for an ideal which feels under threat.

To my generation, Star Trek's famous crew represented something new. Its fantastic plots and stories of undiscovered planets held the promise of a future in which national boundaries had been eroded and become long lost cultural absurdities. Watching it now, it is easy to underestimate how radical it was then. The images of interracial connection were stunningly important in 1968, and the makers of the TV series knew they were making a popular fable with political implications. I also realise that it represents a dream that seems to be moving further away from us as many blame other countries and cultures for our difficulties.

As I left the cinema, memories of my own encounters with internationalism came flooding back.

The first time I visited the House of Commons, I was in London for an admissions interview at Queen Mary College. The debate in the House was about membership of the European Union and I was moved by the thought that we were making a step towards an inter-national community and global governance.

I remember giving a speech at a European research collaboration meeting which surprised and seemed to delight the scientists there. I talked about the role of Science in building a new international community of academics whose home was not only the nation state, but Europe and indeed the world.

And what physicist could forget the burst of pride and delight last year when the Organisation Europeenne pour la Recherche Nucleaire (CERN) discovered the Higgs Boson.

The young optimist who hoped for an academia without borders is still there within me, still hoping, but feeling more threatened. I am perturbed by the apparent growth of the view that we in the United Kingdom are essentially different and need to be kept that way.

Such feelings cannot be dispelled by exhortation. It is no good responding to people's genuine concerns with accusations of bigotry alone. Politicians of all parties are afraid of losing voters, yet we need to be very sure about the visions we do have and whether they really are places of safety or simply of hiding. The role of a university is to acknowledge that people have genuine concerns and difficulties - and to work on solutions to these - but also to be a place of diversity, openness, inclusion and welcome.

As a University, we are in many ways an experimental country, one with citizens of every nation on a mission to make a difference in our world for all our home communities, wherever they may be. Ours is in this sense a moral voyage with an emphasis on innovation and putting knowledge to service. And if it isn't, we will fall far short of what we can be. And we will fail to answer questions from students and society about what a university is for at a time of change and limited resource.

Last weekend, as the country's media debated immigration, our own students put on an International Cultural Evening in Sheffield City Hall - a feast of music and dance, laughter and talent, with proceeds raised enriching needy local charities. As the tabloids focused on fears of a Romanian crime wave in inner-city London, our own Romanian Society took the award for the performance of the night for its joyful mixture of dance, irony, energy and fun. The event was hosted by our International Student Officer Fadi Dakkak, who is leading the campaign to ensure that all students - from the UK or overseas - feel the benefits of being part of a vibrant international community.

This cultural richness was increasingly visible as the week went on. At the Celebration of Enterprise Dinner which filled Firth Hall, student finalists inspired judges and guests with their superb business start-ups and concepts. Of those who were shortlisted, a large number were international students who were bringing to life concepts involving social enterprise and job creation.

And at the launch of our Insigneo Institute - a partnership between research in Medicine and Engineering and the clinical skills within the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust - we saw Professor Marco Viceconti lead a team of researchers whose names display their many nationalities, united around an ambitious goal to deliver healthcare in new, personal and life-changing ways. And of course this is just one of numerous ways in which colleagues across the University are working on international collaborations and to bring international perspectives into the educational experience.

Our University shows what an international community can and should be. A place of diversity in which talents are brought together to do good in our world. As our Union President Abdi Aziz-Suleiman says,

"We are all international... There isn't a story of a student in the 21st century that doesn't have an international element to it, and the richer stories are those with all the more international elements to them."

Some of the leaders of the future are with us at Sheffield now, and our task is to make the very most of them being amongst us. Let's learn from and teach one another about our hope for a future society typified by talent, respect and international collaboration.


<b>Professor Sir Keith Burnett
Vice-Chancellor</b>
 
Absolutely no details in that 'article' that specifies what these 'search parties' were and what they did.

Indeed. With no offence to the original poster who starts the post with the words 'If true...' ...

When will people learn that, much like its Guardian nemesis, the Daily Mail is an agenda-motivated, manipulative peddler of out of context half-truths, that operates with a professional cynicism and fear-inducing journalistic bent that is wholly dedicated to creating knee-jerk reaction?

I truly detest the larger part of our British Media and, while I understand it's a human trait to always believe 'evidence' that supports our own, personal world view, I'm also deeply saddened by the general public's gullibility.
 
Indeed. With no offence to the original poster who starts the post with the words 'If true...' ...

When will people learn that, much like its Guardian nemesis, the Daily Mail is an agenda-motivated, manipulative peddler of out of context half-truths, that operates with a professional cynicism and fear-inducing journalistic bent that is wholly dedicated to creating knee-jerk reaction?

I truly detest the larger part of our British Media and, while I understand it's a human trait to always believe 'evidence' that supports our own, personal world view, I'm also deeply saddened by the general public's gullibility.

Hence why i put if true though i have actually seen the story in other papers today as well. In Fairness to PM i think the quote "Search parties" was tongue in cheek but the sentiment was there and as he admits It could well come back to bite them as many of the jobs in Labour strongholds have now disappeared though this could be said for the whole country.
 
Hence why i put if true though i have actually seen the story in other papers today as well. In Fairness to PM i think the quote "Search parties" was tongue in cheek but the sentiment was there and as he admits It could well come back to bite them as many of the jobs in Labour strongholds have now disappeared though this could be said for the whole country.

The thing is, the words "true" and "Daily Mail" don't often go together.
 
The email I posted above has now been turned into a Guardian article:winking:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-ed...ational-students-modern-university?CMP=twt_gu

I like the writing style and the sentiment but in my opinion he's seriously missing the point. Nobody really objects to the "hands across the ocean"/"we are the world" mixture of students and academics that he sees at university (that incidently fund his university, given that foreign students pay considerably more than "home" students.) The crux of the current discontent is that Britain has blindly let anyone in (how true this is, I cannot say) and they in turn bring with them all their problems, financial or otherwise for an over-burdened state to take care of. He is looking at the cream of the crop when plainly they are not the problem.

Very easy to look out at a university campus and marvel at the multi-cultural magic that you have played a part in but take a trip down your average British High Street and you get a different view.
 
I like the writing style and the sentiment but in my opinion he's seriously missing the point. Nobody really objects to the "hands across the ocean"/"we are the world" mixture of students and academics that he sees at university (that incidently fund his university, given that foreign students pay considerably more than "home" students.) The crux of the current discontent is that Britain has blindly let anyone in (how true this is, I cannot say) and they in turn bring with them all their problems, financial or otherwise for an over-burdened state to take care of. He is looking at the cream of the crop when plainly they are not the problem.

Very easy to look out at a university campus and marvel at the multi-cultural magic that you have played a part in but take a trip down your average British High Street and you get a different view.

He's not missing the point, he's saying that the benefits of allowing international students into our country have been completely ignored in the debates about immigration policy.
 
He's not missing the point, he's saying that the benefits of allowing international students into our country have been completely ignored in the debates about immigration policy.

I went to a university with a large number of international students, most of whom returned home once they had completed their studies - what has that got to do with the current wave of discontent about immigration?

Perhaps the recent abuse of student visas has also taken the edge off his point. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21693835
 
I went to a university with a large number of international students, most of whom returned home once they had completed their studies - what has that got to do with the current wave of discontent about immigration?

Perhaps the recent abuse of student visas has also taken the edge off his point. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21693835

And I teach many international students, of which a significant proportion look likely to remain in the country.

Even those that return home improve the quality of university teaching and experience for all students, and improve the knowledge of lecturers etc. If changes to immigration policy mean that it's harder for international students to just come here to study (and return home) then it will have implications for our economy, because of a significant reduction in income across pretty much every university and the money that they spend in the local economy (UoS (ignoring Hallam) international students = 1% of the total population of Sheffield)

I teach a lot of international students about health systems, they learn quite a lot about the UK system and I learn (more indirectly) about international systems. That knowledge is useful for my research and the Research Councils who fund my grants tend to agree. That knowledge is also useful for home students who study alongside international students.

I'm not saying it's a huge factor, but I agree with Burnett that we have to be very careful what we wish for, and have to consider all the effects when considering immigration policy.
 
Whilst its in the Daily Mail and therefore probably not true, I do like the picture they've used of Tony Blair, which very much gives the impression of him wearing a halo. I wonder if they realised that.
 
And I teach many international students, of which a significant proportion look likely to remain in the country.

Even those that return home improve the quality of university teaching and experience for all students, and improve the knowledge of lecturers etc. If changes to immigration policy mean that it's harder for international students to just come here to study (and return home) then it will have implications for our economy, because of a significant reduction in income across pretty much every university and the money that they spend in the local economy (UoS (ignoring Hallam) international students = 1% of the total population of Sheffield)

I teach a lot of international students about health systems, they learn quite a lot about the UK system and I learn (more indirectly) about international systems. That knowledge is useful for my research and the Research Councils who fund my grants tend to agree. That knowledge is also useful for home students who study alongside international students.

I'm not saying it's a huge factor, but I agree with Burnett that we have to be very careful what we wish for, and have to consider all the effects when considering immigration policy.

I can't disagree with any of that. Knowledge transfer between international students/academics is clearly going to move things on quicker than working in isloation. There just seems to be something very "ivory tower" about considering immigration from the vantage point of observing (often wealthy and middle class) international students at his university. As I said, they are not the problem, in fact they are more likely to be part of the solution if we move to a more rigorously selective system of immigration.

Also, I didn't spot this on the first read but what kind of Alan Partridge BS is this?

"The role of a university is to acknowledge people's concerns and difficulties...As a university, we are an experimental country, one with citizens of every nation on a mission to make a difference for all our home communities wherever they may be. In this sense, ours is a moral voyage...."

By the end of the article this guy must have been writing from inside his own anus.
 
I can't disagree with any of that. Knowledge transfer between international students/academics is clearly going to move things on quicker than working in isloation. There just seems to be something very "ivory tower" about considering immigration from the vantage point of observing (often wealthy and middle class) international students at his university. As I said, they are not the problem, in fact they are more likely to be part of the solution if we move to a more rigorously selective system of immigration.

Also, I didn't spot this on the first read but what kind of Alan Partridge BS is this?


By the end of the article this guy must have been writing from inside his own anus.

hahaha. can't disagree with that to be honest!:hilarious:
 
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