UCU boss urges government to stop ‘obstructing’ Gazan students from UK university offers 

The University and College Union (UCU) has urged the UK government to stop “obstructing” students in Gaza who have secured places to study at UK universities from taking up their offers due to visa-related restrictions. 

In a letter to the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, UCU General Secretary, Jo Grady, wrote that the government should “go out of its way” to ensure Palestinian students are able to reach UK campuses in September.  

Grady argued that Palestinian students “are effectively being blocked” by visa rules which require biometric data, including fingerprints and photographs, to be submitted in person before visas can be processed.

Around 80 students from Gaza have secured offers to study at over 32 UK universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, and St Andrews

The only UK-approved biometric centre in Gaza has been shut since October 2023. Students have been unable to travel to alternative centres in Egypt or Jordan, as they have not received the required government assistance to reach these centres. 

Around 80 students from Gaza have secured offers to study at over 32 UK universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, and St Andrews. Grady called the efforts of the students “remarkable”, given that they are facing what she called “the most horrendous and challenging circumstances imaginable”.

Many of these 80 students are on full scholarships to the UK, with eight being recipients of the prestigious Chevening scholarship, which is funded by the UK Foreign Office.  

The UCU, which represents 125,000 staff in higher education, has criticised the Home Office for being out of step with several European nations, which have already issued biometric waivers and evacuated students out of Gaza. 

Ireland evacuated 16 students in May and waived their biometric requirements, while France has evacuated almost 300 people since the start of the year. The UK is yet to implement an equivalent scheme.  

Every university [in Gaza] has been reduced to rubble, and educators have been deliberately targeted and killed

Abtisam Mohamed, Labour MP

More than 70 MPs have signed a cross-party letter urging Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to defer biometric data requirements so that the students can take up their places before the academic year begins.  

The letter warned that “students who should be starting university next month will be among those who are being shot dead at aid sites, bombed in displacement camps, or starving as famine spreads.”

Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed, one of the signatories, said that: “Every university [in Gaza] has been reduced to rubble, and educators have been deliberately targeted and killed.” She stressed: “Some of these students have already been killed while waiting, and others remain in constant danger.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp pushed back on the letter, stating that biometric checks are “an essential part of our security arrangements” and should not be waived.

However, Barry Gardiner MP, another signatory, pointed out that the government has approved previous exemptions to biometric rules, such as for Ukrainian refugees.  

We risk losing everything, our lives, our scholarships that we fought so hard to get, trapped in a warzone, with an open door just out of reach

Karam Elradie, Gazan student with a Manchester offer

Gardiner stressed that “these young people are the future of Palestine”, and a government waiver would give “the state of Palestine the possibility of a future.” 

Karam Elradie, a 26-year-old student from Gaza, has secured a full scholarship to study Computer Science at the University of Manchester. He recounted completing his interview with shrapnel in his leg from an Israeli airstrike that had hit his home just moments after he had been on his rooftop – which overlooked an IDF base – looking for internet. 

“Going up to the rooftop for internet was life-threatening,” he said, “but that’s how much I was prepared to risk for my education.” 

Now living in a kitchen with five family members, Elradie added: “We are pleading with the British government to grant us biometric exemptions like other countries have done […] We risk losing everything, our lives, our scholarships that we fought so hard to get, trapped in a warzone, with an open door just out of reach.” 

Another student, Dalya Qeshta, 22, said she and her sister have both been offered places at various UK universities, but are now sheltering in a tent after being displaced 11 times. 

She told The Independent: “Education is key to breaking the cycle of hardship.” 

These young people deserve to take up their university places like any other student. The knowledge and skills they would gain here could be vital for rebuilding Gaza and ensuring it has a future beyond this horrific war

Nicola Pratt, Professor of International Relations at Warwick

Several UK academics, university staff, and students have increasingly voiced their concern and called for urgent government action.

Kamran Yunus, Director of Admissions at Downing College, Cambridge, said: “The visa application process asks students to specify a biometric centre. There’s no box to say they’ve all been blown up.” 

Nicola Pratt, a Professor of International Relations at the University of Warwick and President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, has described the situation as “indefensible”. 

Speaking to The Boar, Pratt, who is also a member of UCU, said: “These young people deserve to take up their university places like any other student. The knowledge and skills they would gain here could be vital for rebuilding Gaza and ensuring it has a future beyond this horrific war. 

“Students and staff at Warwick have been calling on the University to do more to actively support Palestinian students and universities, and UK universities should be loudly demanding that the Home Office waive these rules.”

We are aware of the students and are considering the request for support

Government spokesperson

Almost 4,000 students from 122 UK universities have signed an open letter in support of the #GAZA40 campaign, which has called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other key ministers to either waive the biometric requirement and bring students to the UK, or evacuate them to a neighbouring country for visa processing.

The letter stresses that the government has “a legal and moral obligation to act”.

A government spokesperson has said: “We are aware of the students and are considering the request for support.”