A Gaza PhD student who won a fully funded scholarship to the University of Glasgow has spoken of her heartbreak at her family being denied entry to the UK.
In May, Manar al-Houbi received confirmation of her successful application. “It felt almost too good to be true,” she said. As well as her tuition fees, her scholarship from a charity, the Council for At Risk Academics (Cara), covers housing and living costs for her and all family members.
She completed visa applications for the family, but last month, just before her studies were due to start, she received an email from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), saying that her family would not be allowed to travel with her.
As part of a UK crackdown on immigration, most international students are not allowed to bring their dependants with them. However, there are exceptions for full-time PhD students such as Houbi, whose scholarship and visa permit her to bring her family.
When questioned about Houbi’s case during a recent BBC interview, David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, said: “It’s important to understand that we are actually dependent on Israeli permissions to bring those people out, and that has not been easy to get.”
But Israeli officials said they had not blocked Houbi leaving Gaza.
“It should be clarified that Israel does not impose any limit on the number of residents exiting Gaza and relies solely on the requests submitted by the receiving countries,” said a spokesperson for Cogat, the Israeli government department responsible for approving evacuations.
The news has left Houbi devastated. “The fact that the UK government hasn’t even bothered to make a request on my family’s behalf is heartbreaking,” she said.
Houbi and her family are now living in a tent in Khan Younis, after their home in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes early in the war.
Houbi’s PhD research will explore how media and education can combat violence against women and promote peace. She said she hopes to return to Gaza after completing her PhD to teach, empower women and develop programmes that drive awareness and transformation.
“She is such an excellent candidate for a scholarship that she was able to pick the scheme that allows her to bring dependants,” said Prof Alison Phipps, academic supervisor at the University of Glasgow. “No parent should be forced to choose their studies over their family, not least when this is a firm criterion of the scholarship itself.”
Last month, the first group of university students from Gaza arrived in the UK after months of campaigning by politicians, academics and activists on behalf of Palestinian students holding offers from UK universities.
Matt Foster, chief executive at Cara, which awarded Houbi her scholarship, said the charity “is ready and waiting to support this family and we call on the UK government to support their evacuation immediately”.
Scottish education secretary Jenny Gilruth said she had requested an urgent meeting with the foreign secretary.
An FCDO spokesperson said: “The government is working with universities to identify eligible students and to assist them to leave Gaza and take up their studies in the UK. This has been a highly complex process, but we have already successfully evacuated a number of students and expect further cohorts to arrive in the coming weeks.”
