THE Home Office left Gazans "working blind" after telling the BBC it had agreed to bring some 40 Palestinian students to the UK before it told the students involved, The National understands.
Further, the Labour administration's failure to contact the students left many in limbo.
For months, the UK Government has been under pressure to approve visas for 80 Palestinian students to take up their university places in Britain. The BBC reported on Tuesday that 40 have been green-lit – leaving the Gaza students waiting to hear if they are in the approved half or not.
Manar Al-Houbi, who has a scholarship to study for a PhD at Glasgow University’s school of education, said she and other students in Gaza “desperately” needed confirmation from the UK Government.
“The emotions are conflicting,” she went on. “I do feel hopeful but it’s mixed with fear. The long wait and lack of clarity increases tensions and anxiety.
“We will only feel relief when we receive an official confirmation email outlining a clear timeline.
“We haven’t received any response from the Government yet. We hope to hear from them soon so we can establish a clear plan.”
Another Gazan with a scholarship to study in Scotland, Ibrahim Algohrane said he believed his visa would be among those approved after a message from his university. However, it later transpired that he is not in the first 40 on the list.
Professor Alison Phipps, who has been closely involved with efforts to bring the Palestinian students to the UK, said: “We're basically working blind with Westminster at the moment. The journalists have more information than we do.
“Students are hearing good news, but via a post on the BBC.”
Phipps, the Unesco chair in refugee integration through languages and arts at Glasgow University, added: “It feels very much to me that the Government is more interested in managing the message than a good orderly evacuation and correct processing of visas and dependents.”
Phipps further said that the issue of bringing dependents was “really critical, because it's impossible to study well if you're worrying all the time that your children might be blown up”. Al-Houbi, for example, has two young daughters.
Phipps further questioned why the BBC was reporting that the UK Government had approved just 40 out of the 80 Palestinian students.
“We have no understanding at all of what the criteria have been for the decision making,” the University of Glasgow expert said.
“Whilst it's good news for those 40, it's terrible news for those who also meet the criteria, but apparently there's another set of criteria in the mix that we don't know about. So we’re working in the dark.”
Nine Gaza students have places through the Chevening scholarship scheme, which is overseen by the Foreign Office. They have been informed of the plans. It is the remaining 71, whose cases The National understands are overseen by the Home Office, where the main issues lie.
Phipps suggested it might also be that the top-level decision makers at UK universities had also not been told of the Home Secretary's decision.
On Monday, Professor Brad MacKay, the deputy principal of St Andrews University, went on BBC Scotland radio to call for the Home Office to help two evacuate two Palestinian students from Gaza, suggesting he had not been informed of plans.
Phipps said that, on the evidence from the UK Government’s efforts so far, the plans to bring the students from Gaza to Britain appeared to have been drawn up "on the back of an envelope".
“This is no way to organise an evacuation,” she went on.
“I really hope that the UK Government are talking to experts, UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees], the International Red Cross, so that they can learn.”
The Home Office refused to address allegations that it had informed the media of its decision on the Gaza students before telling the students themselves, or address questions about the others still without confirmation.
Asked for comment, a spokesperson would only point to a “source” quote given to PA Media following the BBC’s initial reports on Monday.
It said: “This remains a complex and challenging task, but the Home Secretary has made it crystal clear to her officials that she wants no stone unturned in efforts to ensure there are arrangements in place to allow this cohort of talented students to take up their places at UK universities as soon as possible.”
