Friday, October 31, 2008
News
■Starting with the Fall 2008 Semester UKIT has simplified access to the Mac computers in our labs by enabling students to login using their Link Blue computing account. This change requires new students to activate their Mac access before they will be able to use the labs, and may require some returning students to contact IT Support to have their accounts reinstated and their files restored. For more information, including how to activate your access, please consult our wiki article.
■For an overview of UK organizational structure with key individuals responsible for administrative systems, please click here.
■Reminder: Bb 8.0 Upgrade
The Blackboard servers will go down at 12:15 am on Tuesday, May 6 (immediately after spring semester grades are due) so that UKIT can perform the upgrade; servers should be back up by 8 am on May 6. All Bb Instructors are strongly urged to download the gradebook in their courses as a precautionary backup before the servers go down. "How do I download my gradebook?". The main change in this move to Bb v8.0 is that the Gradebook will become the Grade Center, with an entirely new layout. Learn more about the new Grade Center on the Grade Center Resources page.
■Office 2008 for Mac Now Available for Faculty/Staff
Office 2008 for Mac is now available to regular full-time and regular part-time Faculty and Staff of the University of Kentucky. It is available for download through the UK Download server.
The student version of Office 2008 for Mac is not available at this time, but will be released on the Student Download Server when the product is available. Students should note that they are only allowed one copy of the currently released Office Product. Students that download Office 2007 for Windows will not be eligible for Office 2008 for the Mac, and vice versa.
■UKIT coined the term "link blue" to define a directory account ( userid and password ) which can be used when connecting to many campus-wide systems. For more information click here.
■UKIT 2006-2009 Strategic Plan is available here.
Security Tip
■USB thumb drives and email enabled PDAs have become an extremely useful tool for keeping up with important data and transferring it between computers. However they can become a liability if they are lost, stolen, or damaged if you don't take steps to protect yourself.
■For an overview of UK organizational structure with key individuals responsible for administrative systems, please click here.
■Reminder: Bb 8.0 Upgrade
The Blackboard servers will go down at 12:15 am on Tuesday, May 6 (immediately after spring semester grades are due) so that UKIT can perform the upgrade; servers should be back up by 8 am on May 6. All Bb Instructors are strongly urged to download the gradebook in their courses as a precautionary backup before the servers go down. "How do I download my gradebook?". The main change in this move to Bb v8.0 is that the Gradebook will become the Grade Center, with an entirely new layout. Learn more about the new Grade Center on the Grade Center Resources page.
■Office 2008 for Mac Now Available for Faculty/Staff
Office 2008 for Mac is now available to regular full-time and regular part-time Faculty and Staff of the University of Kentucky. It is available for download through the UK Download server.
The student version of Office 2008 for Mac is not available at this time, but will be released on the Student Download Server when the product is available. Students should note that they are only allowed one copy of the currently released Office Product. Students that download Office 2007 for Windows will not be eligible for Office 2008 for the Mac, and vice versa.
■UKIT coined the term "link blue" to define a directory account ( userid and password ) which can be used when connecting to many campus-wide systems. For more information click here.
■UKIT 2006-2009 Strategic Plan is available here.
Security Tip
■USB thumb drives and email enabled PDAs have become an extremely useful tool for keeping up with important data and transferring it between computers. However they can become a liability if they are lost, stolen, or damaged if you don't take steps to protect yourself.
Student Life
Dining
•Plan Info
•Downtown Dining
Get Involved
•Clubs & Organizations
•Student Activities Board
•Student Government
•Fraternities & Sororities
•Volunteer
Getting Around Campus
•Campus Map
•Parking and Transportation
Lexington Life
•Things to Do
Living on Campus
•Individual Dorm
•FAQs
•Living/Learning Communities
•Residence Life Status
•Campus Safety
•Student Center
Off-Campus Housing
•Lexington Apartment Guide
Sports & Recreation
•Intramural Sports
•Johnson Athletic Center
•Blue Athletics
•Outdoor Pursuits
•Club Sports
•Aquatics
Student Services
•Disability Resource Center
•Student Health Center
•Career Center
•Student Employment
•Health Insurance
•Counseling & Testing Center
Textbooks
•UK Bookstore
WARNING: Some Web sites to which these materials provide links for the convenience of users are not managed by the University of Kentucky. The University does not review, control, or take responsibility for the contents of those sites.
•Plan Info
•Downtown Dining
Get Involved
•Clubs & Organizations
•Student Activities Board
•Student Government
•Fraternities & Sororities
•Volunteer
Getting Around Campus
•Campus Map
•Parking and Transportation
Lexington Life
•Things to Do
Living on Campus
•Individual Dorm
•FAQs
•Living/Learning Communities
•Residence Life Status
•Campus Safety
•Student Center
Off-Campus Housing
•Lexington Apartment Guide
Sports & Recreation
•Intramural Sports
•Johnson Athletic Center
•Blue Athletics
•Outdoor Pursuits
•Club Sports
•Aquatics
Student Services
•Disability Resource Center
•Student Health Center
•Career Center
•Student Employment
•Health Insurance
•Counseling & Testing Center
Textbooks
•UK Bookstore
WARNING: Some Web sites to which these materials provide links for the convenience of users are not managed by the University of Kentucky. The University does not review, control, or take responsibility for the contents of those sites.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
New UK immigration points based system
The United Kingdom will begin implementing its new points based immigration system in early 2008. The new system, broken into five "tiers", encompasses employment, business, and study-based immigration, from highly skilled workers to Working Holiday Makers and students.
Our site has a new section containing the most up-to-date information about the new points based system and how it will work. We will be updating this section as new information is released.
Programs such as the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) and the UK Work Permits scheme will be replaced by the new points based tier system. Each tier is expected to have a number of sub-categories such as general highly skilled migrants, investors, and entrepreneurs under Tier 1. Each sub-category will have its own criteria for scoring points.
The breakdown of the tier system is as follows:
•Tier 1: Highly skilled migrants, entrepreneurs, and innovators
•Tier 2: Skilled workers with a job offer to fill shortages in the labor market
•Tier 3: Unskilled, temporary/seasonal labor (suspended indefinitely)
•Tier 4: Students
•Tier 5: Temporary workers such as Working Holiday Makers
The tiers will be implemented at different times. Tier 1 is expected to begin in March 2008, followed by Tier 2 and 5 in the third quarter of 2008. Tier 4 is expected to begin in early 2009. Tier 3 has been suspended indefinitely, with the UK expecting to fill unskilled labor from within the European Union and the European Economic Area.
Please note: When the HSMP is replaced by Tier 1, a few advantages to the current program will be lost. Any highly skilled individuals thinking about migrating to the UK would be advised to apply for HSMP now. We offer a free HSMP Assessment form and a convenient online Points Calculator to assess a person's chances of being granted an HSMP visa.
• UK universities fear financial loss with new immigration rules
• UK Home Secretary outlines new points based system
• UK prime minister highlights need for migration, skills training
• More criticism at ending UK SAWS migration scheme
• English ability will play important part in new UK points based system
Our site has a new section containing the most up-to-date information about the new points based system and how it will work. We will be updating this section as new information is released.
Programs such as the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) and the UK Work Permits scheme will be replaced by the new points based tier system. Each tier is expected to have a number of sub-categories such as general highly skilled migrants, investors, and entrepreneurs under Tier 1. Each sub-category will have its own criteria for scoring points.
The breakdown of the tier system is as follows:
•Tier 1: Highly skilled migrants, entrepreneurs, and innovators
•Tier 2: Skilled workers with a job offer to fill shortages in the labor market
•Tier 3: Unskilled, temporary/seasonal labor (suspended indefinitely)
•Tier 4: Students
•Tier 5: Temporary workers such as Working Holiday Makers
The tiers will be implemented at different times. Tier 1 is expected to begin in March 2008, followed by Tier 2 and 5 in the third quarter of 2008. Tier 4 is expected to begin in early 2009. Tier 3 has been suspended indefinitely, with the UK expecting to fill unskilled labor from within the European Union and the European Economic Area.
Please note: When the HSMP is replaced by Tier 1, a few advantages to the current program will be lost. Any highly skilled individuals thinking about migrating to the UK would be advised to apply for HSMP now. We offer a free HSMP Assessment form and a convenient online Points Calculator to assess a person's chances of being granted an HSMP visa.
• UK universities fear financial loss with new immigration rules
• UK Home Secretary outlines new points based system
• UK prime minister highlights need for migration, skills training
• More criticism at ending UK SAWS migration scheme
• English ability will play important part in new UK points based system
UK Immigration and UK Visa Services
The UK has introduced a number of new UK immigration, naturalization, UK visa, work permit and UK working visa categories in the last few years. The points based skilled immigration category the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), introduced in January 2002, proved to be very successful.
However, the HSMP has been replaced by Tier 1 (General), part of the UK's new five-tier points based system which will encompass all work, study, and training immigration routes into the country. People seeking extensions to their HSMP visa are now required to extend their leave to remain under Tier 1 (General) for General Highly Skilled Migrants. Since April 2008, applicants located in India have been required to file initial highly skilled migrant applications under the Tier 1 (General) rules. This was followed by the rest of the world on 30 June 2008 as the Tier 1 (General) scheme fully replaced the HSMP.
You may have to wait months for your UK visa application to be processed by the UK Border Agency, or spend the whole day there to then find that you do not have all the relevant documentation. We are OISC registered and can submit your UK visa application to the Home Office to be dealt with on the same day.
However, the HSMP has been replaced by Tier 1 (General), part of the UK's new five-tier points based system which will encompass all work, study, and training immigration routes into the country. People seeking extensions to their HSMP visa are now required to extend their leave to remain under Tier 1 (General) for General Highly Skilled Migrants. Since April 2008, applicants located in India have been required to file initial highly skilled migrant applications under the Tier 1 (General) rules. This was followed by the rest of the world on 30 June 2008 as the Tier 1 (General) scheme fully replaced the HSMP.
You may have to wait months for your UK visa application to be processed by the UK Border Agency, or spend the whole day there to then find that you do not have all the relevant documentation. We are OISC registered and can submit your UK visa application to the Home Office to be dealt with on the same day.
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