UK universities ‘letting down’ refugee applicants

UK universities “talk the talk” on being inclusive towards refugees but too often do not “walk the walk”, according to students.

As part of Refugee Week, young people who have been through the asylum process told Times Higher Education that they had faced repeated rejections from higher education institutions despite having strong academic records.

They claimed that admissions teams rejected them because they did not understand the rules around the asylum process, failed to recognise academic credit gained overseas or struggled to keep up with changing government policy.

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Joel Mordi, an award-winning LGBTQ+ activist who was granted refugee status after fleeing Nigeria, said repeated rejections by universities pushed vulnerable people “further into the margins” after surviving the “limbo” of the asylum process.

“The door is already shut, but then it is slammed in our faces,” said Mr Mordi, who is now studying at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford.

“We are advocating more and more for universities to be places of sanctuary, but not just at face value. They talk the talk, but they don’t walk the walk.”

Another refugee, Nour Adam, said she had been forced to flee Yemen after completing the first year of a medicine degree there, but struggled to gain admission to similar courses at UK universities, even after completing a foundation course at UCL.

Ms Adam, who was born in Kuwait, found applying to university to be a very complicated process, with her qualifications and status often misunderstood, meaning she was being rejected for the wrong reasons.

Having filled out her Ucas application while living in a homeless shelter, she is now a medicine student at King’s College London. She said UK universities were “very rigid” and inflexible towards refugee applicants compared with other countries such as Australia and Canada.

Ms Adam praised the pre-entry and on-course support provided for refugees at King’s, but argued that in general universities needed to improve the assistance that they provided.

“As a refugee student, there are still a lot of challenges I face day to day,” she said.

“It is important that universities do not treat all refugees as though we are all the same. Universities need to take the time to listen to our stories and understand the individual challenges we face.”

A number of refugee students, including Mr Mordi, also appear in the short film My (Refugee) Life, released this week in a collaboration between a refugee cast and crew, Postcard Productions and Breaking Barriers, a refugee employment charity.

Zozan Yasar, a Kurdish journalist from Turkey who worked on the documentary, said she had faced lots of challenges in accessing higher education in terms of funding, scholarship, recognition and discrimination.

Repeated rejections and obstacles were very discouraging for those trying to study in the UK, she added.

Carolyn Burke, national senior programmes manager at Breaking Barriers, said universities needed to be open-minded, up to date with policy and willing to take a chance to help overcome the barriers faced by those with refugee or asylum-seeking backgrounds.

“The benefits of embracing diversity are real for the university and the students, giving access to work and the greatest opportunity to rebuild a life,” she said.

“We want universities to be an ally, rather than be afraid of red tape.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com