International students at Scottish university hit out at marking boycott

Three students told the Sunday National of the difficulties that they have faced in extending their visas, with one describing the situation as “deplorable”.

The University College Union (UCU) marking and assessment boycott has meant that many students have not been given a final degree grade, and are instead graduating with an unclassified or delayed degree.

For international students whose visas depend on this qualification, this could mean they have to return to their home country or change their postgraduate plans.

Will Scheffler has just finished his degree in International Relations and Quantitative Methods and had planned to go to the London School of Economics to pursue a Masters degree in Applied Social Data Science.

He is a US citizen and under the rules for student and graduate visas in the UK, cannot apply for an extension to his visa until he has received an award for his undergraduate degree.

Scheffler may have to return to the US and will potentially be unable to start his masters as planned.

READ MORE: Religious representatives' voting rights in Scotland 'will go in five years'

An email from the University of Edinburgh told Scheffler: “If you are progressing from one programme of study to another or to a higher level of studies such as Masters or Doctoral studies, you are required to meet UKVI’s academic progression rule to be able to apply for your next student visa from within the UK before the expiry of your current student visa permission.

“This means you must have successfully achieved an award for your most recent programme of study in the UK. The UKVI has not put in any concessions in place enabling students to apply for a student visa from within the UK for their further studies if they have had their award decision deferred due to the Marking and Assess- ment Boycott.

“If your award decision has been deferred due to missing or delayed results, you will be required to return to your home country and obtain another student visa from outside the UK before starting your new programme.”

Scheffler told the Sunday National: “It is a frustrating process. This email is in direct contradiction to what we’ve been told before, which is that there would be concessions for students affected by this.

“There is conflicting information and it is just chaos. We need urgent clarification from the government and from Edinburgh.

“We haven’t been supported by the university. The university knew the strikes were coming but don’t seem to have prepared contingency plans.

“We support the lecturers with their efforts – they have been treated badly by the university and now we have been too. Strikes have been going on for years now and are completely legitimate.

“It’s mind boggling to me that there has been no progress in the last four years that I’ve been at the university. It’s really frustrating that this is now affecting students.

“The lack of clarity and U-turns with decisions are frustrating. Students shouldn’t have to do this much digging to figure out what they can and can’t do. It’s appalling.

“We’ve been fed incorrect information by Edinburgh, and if it turns out the information is contradictory or inaccurate, it will be a massive indictment on university leadership and an institution that is recognised as one of the best institutions in the world.

“It’s a real bin fire and has absolutely impacted how people view Edinburgh.

“I’m still hoping to do my masters, I’m trying to stay as optimistic as possible. I have no idea of my plan if I have to go home.

“I’ve paid rent on a flat in Edinburgh for the summer, I have a job here. If I have to go home it will cost hundreds of pounds in not just flights but also lost opportunities here.

“I don’t regret coming to Edinburgh, but it’s a sour note on what was a really nice four years. I don’t know if things will get worse before they get better. I feel let down by university leadership. Peter Mathieson (the University of Edinburgh’s Vice Chancellor) often kicks this to the national level and says we can’t settle the dispute locally. This isn’t true – Queen’s University Belfast and UCU have reached an agreement. Peter Mathieson is a very powerful man and can do more.”

Students say that the University of Edinburgh has been unclear with its advice to them, giving them statements that conflict with previous communications, with Home Office guidance, and with what other universities have told their students.

King’s College London has reportedly told its students that UKVI is offering concessions to affected students, which echoes communication from the Home Office.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our points-based system is designed to be flexible according to the UK’s needs, including attracting top-class talent from across the world to contribute to the UK’s excellent academic reputation and to help keep our universities competitive on the world stage.

“Students who do not know when they will receive their results due to the marking and assessment boycott will be able to apply to extend their permission while they wait for their results.

“We will consider exercising discretion and will hold graduate route applications made before the applicant’s results have been received, provided that the results are received within eight weeks of the application being made.

“Students will be exceptionally exempt from meeting the academic progression requirements due to the marking boycotts but must meet all other requirements of the rules as normal.

“This approach may be applied to any affected international student holding permission on the student route.”

Many students at Edinburgh are in similar situations to Scheffler.

Armaan Verma is a citizen of India who just finished his English Literature degree, like Scheffler, Armaan has an offer to study a masters degree, in Politics of Conflict, Rights, and Justice at SOAS, University of London. Also like Scheffler, Verma may be unable to take up this offer and is now looking for work so that he can stay in the UK.

He said: “I think on moral grounds, the university certainly looks terrible for failing to care about its staff.

“Not only refusing to pay them, but its conduct in every aspect throughout this dispute has been deplorable. If I worked here, I’d lose faith in my employer.

“I’m funding my own daily expenses, I am simply not in a position to travel back to my home country and wait an unspecified amount of time for an appointment and a visa outcome (which may or may not allow me to come back) and then pay for a last-minute flight back to the UK, all while trying to figure out a way to finance myself for when I’m actually back in the UK.

“So I’m compelled to look for a full-time job, as I cannot apply for a student visa from within the UK with the flimsy letter of completion that the university has provided, and going back is not an option for me.

“I could have spent the last four years doing something far less expensive if I knew I was going to have to apply for jobs without a degree anyway.

“I maintain that the biggest problem here is the university’s moral failure as an institution, which reflects badly on higher education.

“I doubt many people with deferred degrees, particularly in the humanities, are thinking highly of university education at the moment.

“This has been an extremely stressful time, personally, and it feels like I am being let down by a place that my parents worked extremely hard to send me to. And that, perhaps, is what upsets me most.”

This situation is also affecting exchange students at the University of Edinburgh, who may have only been at the university for a semester or an academic year.

Emma MacKenzie is a student at the University of Edinburgh from Toronto, Canada.

She had plans to stay in Edinburgh after she finished her English Literature and History of Art degree, and has signed a lease on a flat and accepted a job.

These plans may now be in jeopardy, as assessments for her degree have not been marked.

Emma is an exchange student at the University of Edinburgh, but without these grades her home university, the University of Toronto, cannot issue her a degree.

Without this degree qualification she cannot apply for the High Potential Individual visa as she had planned to.

EMMA said: “As an exchange student I am not qualified for other visas like the graduate route visas. It’s slightly different to other students as the extensions do not apply to me. The visa I’m applying for requires a bachelors from the University of Toronto to apply.

“I have less than two weeks before my current visa expires. The chances of things being resolved by then are very, very slim and I’m starting to accept that I may have to go back to Canada.

“Even if negotiations took place this week it is still unlikely it would be resolved in time.

“I’m going to be out of work if I have to go back to Canada, and the chances of finding a job this last minute are not great. It’s also not a good time to be flat hunting. I would also have to keep paying rent on my flat in Edinburgh, unless I can reach an agreement with my landlord to sublet.

“They’ve given us no ballpark on when or if we may get grades, so I have no idea when I would be able to come back.

“I feel completely abandoned by Edinburgh. The last communication I received from them was that they’d been given legal advice to not help me. I don’t need specific grades – a pass/fail would be fine. The university is making no concessions, it’s unbelievable how little they care.

“This is going to have a ripple effect – international students make up over 40% of the student body. The university relies on these students and their funding. Even years from now this will impact international students applying, and will have a long term effect on the reputation of the university as a leading institution.”

READ MORE: St Andrews university academic found guilty of plagiarising work

A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “The marking and assessment boycott is a sector-wide issue and we recognise that many students across the UK are experiencing delays in receiving their final degree results. We are profoundly sorry that we have not been able to shield our students from the impact of this UK-wide dispute.

“We are clarifying our advice on visas to students in this complex situation and we are in line with others in the sector. The impact of the boycott varies from student to student; therefore, we continue to encourage any students that are concerned about their visa status to contact our Student Immigration Service who can advise them on the best course of action for their circumstances.”