Asylum seekers plead for higher education

Until they are granted indefinite leave to remain, young asylum seekers cannot work to fund their education and they are not eligible for a student loan. But Save The Children's six-year campaign Brighter Futures campaign, aiming to promote educational opportunities for asylum seekers aged 15-21, might finally be bearing fruit, reports Stephen Hoare
Brighter Futures website
A grab from the Brighter Futures website. Source:

Access to higher education is regarded as an entitlement for young people in the first world where a degree, and perhaps, a gap year spent travelling to exotic destinations, is a rite of passage to a fulfilling career. So spare a thought for young asylum seekers fleeing persecution from the world's trouble spots, whose epic journeys and struggle for survival have shattered dreams of self-improvement.

A handful of asylum seekers currently being educated at English universities is testimony to a tireless campaign that has been waged for the last six years by the Manchester branch of Save the Children's Brighter Futures project. The campaign promotes educational opportunity for asylum seekers aged 15-21 and has forged links between a range of organisations and charities working in the further and higher education sectors; organisations like NUS (National Union of Students), and STAR (Student Action for Refugees).

The Brighter Futures campaign moved up a gear earlier this year with a national conference at the Central Methodist Hall, Westminster. The conference highlighted the three campaigns led by Brighter Futures groups in London, Teeside and Manchester on the themes of right to work, racist bullying and access to education.

From January 2010, Save the Children is handing over Brighter Futures to a consortium of charities who will have the clout to take the work further. In terms of working with higher education, the aim is to persuade more universities to offer places to academically gifted asylum seekers on the same fee basis as home students and to reassure them that with sponsorship in place these young people can stay the course and achieve high grades.

Brighter Futures has found itself working against the grain of the UK Border Agency whose ever increasing bureaucratic hurdles have created a backlog of asylum applications and lives in limbo. Young asylum seekers can either continue with their education knowing that if their application for asylum is turned down they could be deported, or delay applying to university until they have been granted indefinite leave to remain and they are eligible to apply for a student loan.

Rebecca Murray, Programme Officer for Manchester Brighter Futures, says: "Until they are granted indefinite leave to remain these young people are in limbo; they cannot work to fund their education, and they are not eligible for a student loan. Cases take ages to resolve. I know one young man who has been waiting eight years for a decision on his status. At the same time you cannot expect young people to put their lives on hold."

The England-wide campaign is focused on Manchester where a support group of around 20 young asylum seekers meet every Wednesday at the Refugee Action office in the city centre. Save the Children has helped raise sponsorship to send three of the group to Manchester University and Liverpool Hope University and is helping many more work towards achieving their dream of entering higher education.

By no means all young asylum seekers have the potential to progress to higher education, but those that do are frustrated at being denied a chance to contribute to the UK economy or to take useful skills back to their countries of origin. Dagem's experiences are typical (see case study below). Murray says: "He's got the resolve and the determination you'll find among many asylum seekers."

So far Manchester Metropolitan, Liverpool, Liverpool Hope and Edgehill universities have all pledged a limited number of places for asylum seekers to pay home tuition fees. Manchester, London Metropolitan and Middlesex universities offer all asylum seekers the opportunity to pay tuition fees at the home student rate, which is a bold move as vice chancellors welcome Brighter Futures' help in securing sponsorship to meet asylum seekers' tuition fees until their future status has been decided. This vital funding gives hope to asylum seekers who might otherwise have lost out on a chance of higher education.

Case study: Dagem, 21, originally from Ethiopia

Bricks hurled through the window of his temporary accommodation and running the gauntlet of racist abuse from gangs of local youths form the backdrop to 21-year-old Dagem's student life. Having arrived from Ethiopia two years ago, Dagem is staying at an asylum seeker's hostel in a suburb of Manchester. He makes the daily bus journey across the city to study for a part-time accountancy qualification at Manchester College.

He says: "Teenagers break the glass and they run away. I have had my window broken several times. Sometimes I try to pretend I'm not in and leave the lights switched off but it still happens. When I ring the police they take hours to arrive and they don't seem bothered. So I spend the whole day in the college using the computer or studying in the library until it shuts."

Getting accepted on a course was not easy. Dagem says: "When I first applied to college to study accountancy full-time they wouldn't let me on the course as I had only been in the UK for five months and 20 days and not the minimum of six months. I asked them to reserve a place for me but when I went back ten days later I was told the class was full. So I had to enrol on a part time course on another campus."

Even then Dagem's educational background presented a problem. "The college wouldn't accept my high school qualifications. I had to take a English and a maths test but passed both. The lecturers were surprised at how well I did. I am now studying for a level three accounting technician's qualification."

While some might claim that asylum seekers are getting education on the cheap and should pay full fees, Dagem's case (and those of the vast majority of young people Brighter Futures helps whose education has been disrupted) gives the lie to this argument. "Why would anyone want to go through what I am going through? I receive £33 a week allowance out of which I must pay my food, my clothes, my travel and my books. I would like to apply to study an accountancy degree at Manchester Metropolitan University and I am working hard to qualify. Even if I am allowed in I still have to find the £3,100 tuition fee. That's if I can get the university to agree to take me."