By Lenny Osler, News Editor
A postgraduate student on a Sanctuary Scholarship to the University of Bristol has been told he cannot be evacuated from Gaza to begin his studies, since the University’s final registration deadline comes three days before the government’s next scheduled evacuation.
Hassan (not his real name), who has an offer to study MSc Public Health, has had his entry deferred to 2027.
This final deadline has also affected other Gaza scholarship students with unconditional offers to study within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and the Faculty and Science and Engineering.
After external pressure, the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences - in which Hassan was set to study - had already extended postgraduates’ latest date of arrival at the University from October 5 to October 23, in recognition of the Gaza scholars’ circumstances.
The Department for Education later confirmed students with a latest arrival date of October 23 will no longer be eligible for evacuation for 2026 entry, since the earliest potential evacuation from Gaza comes on October 26.
Since the scholars are on student visas, they cannot be evacuated to the UK if unable to enrol in a degree course or other education or training.
Subsequently, Hassan and others were removed from the government’s evacuation list.
The University justified the deadline with the claim that arrival after October 23 would have too great an impact on students’ studies within the two aforementioned faculties.
Bristol Leftist Collective (BLC), which has been monitoring the scholars’ situation, said students from Gaza who arrived late to the University last year ‘managed to excel academically’ in both science faculties.
Contrastingly, the University’s Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences pushed their students’ latest arrival date back to November 2.
This means Gaza scholars with offers for humanities and similar courses are still scheduled for the October 26 evacuation, providing they have no visa issues.
Epigram spoke to Hassan, who called on staff in the two science faculties to reconsider the deadline ‘in light of our extenuating circumstances’.
He praised his offer from the University as ‘a chance to rebuild our lives’, but said deferral to 2027 would mean ‘further disruption to an education we are determined to continue.’
‘There is no guarantee I’ll be able to leave [Gaza] next year - or even that I’ll still be alive - given the ongoing Israeli bombardment.’
‘We are trying to continue our studies while living through a devastating conflict where our safety and ability to travel are beyond our control.’
Lenny Osler
Lenny Osler
Hassan assured he and other Gaza scholars in the two science faculties were ‘prepared to work hard to catch up and meet the University’s academic standards’.
He emphasised they were ‘not asking for those standards to be lowered’ but rather for ‘a fair opportunity to meet them.’
Hassan claimed last year’s late-coming Gaza scholars maintained ‘an excellent academic record’, and that other UK universities were ‘finding solutions for such delays’ by allowing them to catch up next summer.
He said the Sanctuary Scholarship was ‘meant to support and protect students from Gaza, not create further barriers for them.’
‘Universities should show flexibility and find solutions for students facing circumstances beyond their control.’
Carla Denyer, MP for Bristol Central constituency, has reportedly been helping lobby the University to extend the deadline to after October 26.
Featured image: Emad El Byed / Unsplash
