Archive for August, 2008

Georgia Steps up Security, International Students

Universities in the state of Georgia will have to report international students who miss seven consecutive days of classes or have an expired visa if a new bill to the authorities, currently being debated in the state House, gets approved. The Georgia Homeland Security in Education Act of 2007 seeks to implement stronger measures than [...]

One-third of students in Australia lack adequate English

Educational standards at universities in Australia have been brought into question after a report showed that one third of international students who received permanent residency in 2005-2006 after graduating from an Australian university did not have the English standards required for undergraduate admission.

New vetting rules for UK PhD Students

The UK government is planning to introduce vetting procedures for all PhD students from outside the European Union studying subjects such as chemistry, physics or biochemistry.

How doctors from abroad are vetted

BBC News Of the eight people arrested over the attempted car bombings in Glasgow and London, seven are doctors or medical students and one a lab technician, all with links to the NHS. Among them are three doctors who qualified in Jordan, India and Iraq. The NHS has traditionally depended on overseas doctors to help [...]

Summary of Transport Personnel Security Review

The Transport Personnel Security Review has embraced the whole of the transport industry in the UK – sea, land and air – including those parts of it operating internationally and under foreign ownership or control. It is not confined to those parts of the industry presently subject to security requirements[1]. It also includes firms providing services which are integral to transport – such as in-flight catering in aviation and maintenance engineering on the railways.

UK Department Transport Personnel Review – Follow up from Airport staff avoid crime checks

The Secretary of State for Transport (Ruth Kelly): Last December I commissioned an independent review of personnel security across the transport sector.  This followed Lord West’s review last year which focussed on physical infrastructure and confirmed that, although it is impossible to eliminate every risk, a robust transport security regime is in place. The review [...]

Warning of airport staff ‘security loophole’

FOREIGN criminals could be working in restricted areas at Britain’s airports because of a loophole in vetting requirements, it emerged last night.

Airport staff avoid crime checks

BBC News 08 May 2008 Foreign workers employed airside at UK airports do not have to undergo full mandatory criminal records checks, the BBC’s Newsnight has discovered. Since 2003, all staff have been checked against UK criminal records, but offences abroad are not covered. The government said workers were also subject to physical security measures [...]

Assessing Hotel Security, Internationally

HOTEL Asia Pacific magazine in conjunction with PertLink has issued a comprehensive online hotel-security checklist. The checklist, which was first published following the Bali bombings, covers nearly 60 crucial aspects of security that need to be addressed by every hotel. It first appeared as part of an indepth assessment of hotel security, Safe Not Sorry, which won a PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) Gold Award.

South Africa, Post-employment screening: a risk management tool

By: Kirsten Halcrow Any company would be very mistaken to think that screening and due diligence stops or is complete once a person has signed their contract of employment and started working, considering research shows that a high percentage of individuals who have held positions over a long period are implicated in serious fraud. Yet [...]