SEVIS Newsletter: April 2009 Quarterly E-Newsletter

FROM THE DIRECTOR

On March 10-12, 2009, The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) and the Department of State hosted 80 Designated School Officials (DSOs) and Responsible Officials (ROs) from across the country for the second SEVIS II Stakeholder Workshop which was held at the National Conference Center in Belmont, Virginia.

By all accounts this was an incredibly successful working conference. During that week, participants provided candid feedback on the development of SEVIS II. Participants told us what worked and gave us robust evaluations on the pending design and implementation. During this conference, there were several breakout sessions to address specific issues facing academic and program sponsors. Both the F&M and J sponsor programs as well as Batch providers were given separate but equal levels of attention for the specialized issues pertinent to their domains.

As SEVP prepares for the launch of SEVIS II, so much of the program and system’s success is directly tied to the objective assessments we receive from DSOs and ROs – making their feedback an invaluable part of the process.

SEVP created a full transcript of this event, recording every written question and comment. Each was catalogued and will be given a proper response and acknowledgement in the coming weeks. Look for updates on our website; and, stay tuned for details about an upcoming Batch conference to discuss how the Batch process will be handled in a SEVIS II environment.

This event gave SEVP an outstanding opportunity to hear from our constituents. It was time well spent for me and my staff as your input is going to significantly impact our next steps as we refine SEVIS so that it works as seamlessly as possible with your institutions.

Lou Farrell, Director

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