The University and College Union (UCU), representing more than
125,000 education staff, today [Wednesday] called on the Foreign
Secretary and the Middle East Minister to do everything in their
power to get every single Palestinian student in Gaza with a
place at a British university safely onto campus.
UCU's intervention [1] follows reports that the Foreign,
Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is working to
facilitate the evacuation of Palestinian students with
fully-funded scholarships. The union said the government must go
further,, and made three demands of the and in a letter:
-
Commit to evacuating every student in Gaza with a
British university place for the 2024-25 academic
year, and refuse to tolerate Israeli obstruction
-
Do not force parents to choose between their studies
in Britain and their children: let Palestinian
students with a place bring dependents and immediate family
members
-
Establish a scheme for smooth passage of students
from Gaza to our campuses, to include the
introduction of new scholarships, such that Palestinians are
not subjected to this terrifying uncertainty in future
The union highlighted the case of a mother in Gaza who has a FCDO
scholarship to study child and maternal health in Britain but has
been told by the government she cannot bring her two-year old
daughter with her. [2] UCU said this was “unimaginably cruel”,
especially given the British government's backing for Israel's
genocide in Gaza.
The union stressed that “implementation of these measures could
not be more urgent”, as students awaiting evacuation are – like
all Palestinians in Gaza – being bombed, starved and tormented by
Israel.
