A UK-based Nigerian lawyer, Dele Olawanle, on Wednesday raised an alarm over what he described as a ‘ruthless’ deregistration of international students from Africa, and Asia, by universities in the United Kingdom after making at most 90% of their tuition.
This comes after the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced changes to the Immigration Rules to help reduce net migration to the UK while protecting the economic benefits foreign students bring to the UK, according to immigration law firm, Fragomen.
According to the new rules, students can no longer switch to work routes unless they have completed their course of study and those students who planned to switch onto work routes, anticipating this change would come into effect in 2024, will have to wait until they have completed their courses.
Effective January 1, 2024, most students coming to the UK, except those in postgraduate research programs, will no longer be able to sponsor dependents.
As many international students in the UK begin to adjust to the new rules, thousands of Nigerian students, especially, have more on their plate and could be at higher risk of being deregistered from their courses owing to the difficulty in paying their school fees after the naira equivalent of their tuition fees increased by over 60 per cent last week after the Central Bank of Nigeria announced the unification of the nation’s foreign exchange rates.
On July 12, The Punch reported that since the apex bank floated the naira at the Investors and Exporters’ Window of the foreign exchange market the naira has fallen from N471/dollar to N750/dollar and N589.4/pound to N957.2/pound.
As of the time of filing this report, Punch Metro gathered that the naira has dropped to N825/dollar from N750 and N1090/pound.
Amidst this, the UK-based Nigerian lawyer, in an open letter to PM Sunak on behalf of foreign students in the UK stated that “foreign students need help, especially against the oppressive approach of some universities in the UK.”
Punch Metro can’t immediately confirm the number and nationality of students reportedly deregistered as well as the universities they attended.
Olawanle argued that the new rule prohibiting students from switching to work routes until the completion of their studies “will protect the universities from any disruption to their financial budgets and plans.”
He, however, lamented that “the universities have to be kept in check as they are ruthlessly deregistering students from their courses after paying 70% or even 90% of their fees in most cases” adding that he has had “to intervene for many students as their lawyers and the universities were unreasonably stubborn.”
He continued, “Most of these foreign students are from very poor families in Africa, Asia, and some poorest countries in the world. Their parents or the students themselves sold lands, and properties, borrowed money, and left lucrative jobs to further their studies in the United Kingdom.
“On getting to the UK, they faced unbelievable challenges to get accommodation, were taken advantage of by greedy landlords and agents (who have to be more regulated when it comes to students), spent all the money they brought in hotels, and could not get a part-time job to support themselves.
“For them to pay 60%, 70%, 80%, or 90% of their school fees and be ruthlessly deregistered from their courses is absurd and inhumane, to say the least. For the universities to report the students to the Home Office and for the Home Office to unreasonably curtail their leave thereby wasting all their investments into their education without allowing for any mitigation for not being able to meet their financial commitments is sheer wickedness.”
Speaking further, Olawanle revealed that “Some of the university administrators have never travelled out of the UK. Some of them do not even have a British passport despite being British. Some of the Home Office staff curtailing the visa of these students do not even take into account the circumstances of the students like the bereavement of their sponsor and mental health issues coming from moving to a foreign country, etc.
“I speak for thousands of foreign students today especially as they cannot switch to the work route before the completion of their degrees. They were pushed to switch to the work route because of the unreasonable approach of the universities when it comes to paying their school fees.”
Olawanle however urged PM Sunak whose parents, of Indian descent, immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s, to ” stand up and be counted’ because “foreign students need help, especially against the oppressive approach of some universities in the UK.”
The London-based lawyer argued that the immigrants contribute largely the the UK economy and that UK varsities can’t survive without this exorbitant tuition.
He also warned that if the UK government continues to treat foreign students like they don’t matter, they (foreign students) will seek education elsewhere.
He said, “The government should not treat immigrants especially foreign students as if they have no choice but to come to the United Kingdom. The universities cannot survive without the excessive and punitive school fees paid by foreign students.
“Most of the university students who are UK citizens are surviving on student loans which most of them don’t pay back. So, give the foreign students a bit of credit. They are contributing immensely to the growth of the UK economy with their school fees, experience, and the richness of their culture. I am an immigrant and I got my degree in the UK.
“I raised three adult children who attended the university here. It is not easy being a university student here not to talk about being a foreign student. They need a lot of help If they are treated like they do not matter, they will look elsewhere.”
