Category Archives: Students

UK to evacuate nine Gaza students with university scholarships

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Move follows months of pressure from MPs, academics and campaigners, with dozens of other students still stranded

Nine students in Gaza with full scholarships to study at British universities have been told the UK government is working to facilitate their evacuation.

The students – who have all been awarded Chevening scholarships, funded by the Foreign Office in recognition of their potential as future leaders – welcomed the development on Wednesday, but dozens more Palestinians in Gaza with university places are still awaiting news.

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New UK civil service internship scheme open only to working-class students

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Minister says programme will help ensure Whitehall has ‘broadest range of talent and truly reflects the country’

A new civil service internship scheme will be open only to working-class students as part of a drive to make Whitehall better reflect the country, the government has said.

The programme will give students from lower-income backgrounds the chance to apply for paid government placements. The definition of working class will be based on what jobs were held by their parents when the applicant was 14 and replaces an existing programme open to all.

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Ministers urged to help students trapped in Gaza with places at UK universities

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Forty people who have been offered scholarships unable to travel without biometric data they have no way of getting

Pressure is mounting on ministers to intervene on behalf of 40 students in Gaza who have been offered full scholarships to study at UK universities, but are unable to take up their places this September because of government red tape.

A high-level meeting is understood to have taken place at the Home Office on Tuesday after MPs and campaigners highlighted the students’ plight, calling on ministers to take action to help secure their safe passage to the UK. Some students are reported to have been killed while waiting, while others are said to be in constant danger.

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Goldsmiths apologises to Jewish students and staff over ‘culture’ of antisemitism

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Inquiry concludes college’s management failed to help Jewish students ‘feel welcome and safe from antisemitism’

Goldsmiths College in London has apologised to Jewish students and staff after an independent inquiry found it had allowed a “culture” of antisemitism to build up on its campus over a number of years.

The inquiry concluded that Jewish students were subjected to antisemitism during their studies at Goldsmiths and that the college’s management failed to help Jewish students and potential applicants to “feel welcome, included and safe from antisemitism”.

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Students in England now graduate with average debt of £53,000, data shows

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Student Loans Company figures show 10% jump in a year as individuals increase borrowing to meet cost of living

Students in England are finishing their degrees with government loans averaging £53,000, a jump of 10% in a year, as they increase their borrowing to meet the rising cost of living.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) has released figures showing individual loan balances were £5,000 higher in 2024-25 than a year earlier, when the average in England was £48,270.

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English universities barred from enforcing blanket bans on student protests

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Office for Students guidance urges ‘very strong’ approach to permitting lawful speech on campus

Universities in England will no longer be able to enforce blanket bans on student protests under sweeping new guidance that urges a “very strong” approach to permitting lawful speech on campus.

The detailed regulations set out for the first time how universities should deal with inflammatory disputes, such as those between the University of Cambridge and students over the war in Gaza, and rows over academics who hold controversial but legal opinions, such as the gender-critical professor Kathleen Stock.

The guidance issued by the Office for Students (OfS) will make it harder for universities to penalise students and staff for anything other than unlawful speech or harassment.

Academics should not be pressed to support particular views.

Protests should not be restricted for supporting legal viewpoints.

Students or staff should not be “encouraged to report others” for lawful speech.

Universities must “secure freedom of speech” for visiting speakers.

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Chinese tech firms freeze AI tools in crackdown on exam cheats

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Suspension comes as 13m students take four-day gaokao tests for limited spots at country’s universities

Big Chinese tech companies appear to have turned off some AI functions to prevent cheating during the country’s highly competitive university entrance exams.

More than 13.3 million students are sitting the four-day gaokao exams, which began on Saturday and determine if and where students can secure a limited place at university.

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British students at Harvard report ‘growing anxiety’ over US government attacks

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Trump administration’s effort to ban foreign enrolment could force students to disrupt their studies and careers

British and international students at Harvard report “growing anxiety” over their fate, as the Trump administration’s latest attack on the university could force them to disrupt their studies and careers.

On Thursday, the administration said it would revoke Harvard University’s eligibility to enrol international students, which was later temporarily frozen by a US federal judge on Friday.

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Review of student suicides in England dodged ‘real issues’, say bereaved parents

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Uinversity students’ mental health and wellbeing must be ‘prioritised alongside their studies’, argue campaigners

A review of student suicides in England dodged “the real issues” with universities, the parents of a student who killed herself before a class presentation have said.

The national review of higher education student suicide deaths, commissioned by the Department for Education, heard that families suffered “distressing experiences” at the hands of university administrators, and concluded that universities owed a “duty of candour” to relatives, including greater transparency and involvement.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans face UK student visa crackdown

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Applicants will be targeted by Home Office due to suspicions they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum

Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans applying to work or study in the UK face Home Office restrictions over suspicions that they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum, Whitehall officials have claimed.

The government is working with the National Crime Agency to build models to profile applicants from these countries who are likely to go on to claim asylum.

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Labour targets international students claiming asylum after losses to Reform in local elections

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Exclusive: Ministers understood to be drafting white paper this month in move to reduce legal migration

Ministers will crack down on international students applying for asylum in the UK in a move designed to tackle migration figures, after a series of bruising losses to Reform in the local elections.

An immigration white paper setting out the proposed reforms in mid-May will include measures to bring down the numbers of UK student visa holders who make asylum claims, the Guardian understands.

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From homework to housework, how British attitudes have changed since the 1930s

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Study shows women today are happier being women – but getting up to go to work remains as punishing as ever

The mundane tasks of everyday life, such as homework after school and household chores at the weekend, may not have changed in the past 80 years, but societal attitudes towards them could not be more different.

A study by the Policy Institute at King’s College London (KCL), comparing public attitudes now and in the 1930s and 40s, reveals how significantly views on everyday life in Britain have shifted over the decades.

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University of Sussex taking legal action over £585,000 free speech fine

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Vice-chancellor Sasha Roseneil accuses Office for Students of seeking to ‘persecute’ rather than solve problems

The University of Sussex is taking legal action to overturn a record fine levied by England’s higher education regulator, accusing the regulator of seeking to “persecute” it rather than solve problems.

This week the Office for Students (OfS) said it would fine Sussex £585,000 for two “historic” breaches of its regulations related to freedom of speech and governance. It comes after a three-and-a-half-year investigation into the resignation of Prof Kathleen Stock, who was the target of protests at Sussex over her views on gender identification and transgender rights.

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Fall in overseas students fuels threat to English universities despite rise in fees

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Higher tuition costs have already been ‘wiped out’ by government tax hikes, critics claim

A fall in international students applying for visas risks prolonging the existential threat facing some of England’s universities, sources in higher education say, amid warnings that an increase in tuition fees has already been “wiped out” by the government’s tax rises.

Despite the decision by ministers to increase fees for UK students this year to £9,535 – the first rise in eight years – figures across the universities sector said the financial situation remained dire, with further course closures and redundancies being widely considered.

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Unpaid internships ‘locking out’ young working-class people from careers

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UK charity calls for positions of four weeks or longer to be banned to help close social mobility gap

Young people from working-class or disadvantaged backgrounds are being “locked out” of careers by unpaid or low-paid internships that benefit middle-class graduates, according to a social mobility charity.

Research by the Sutton Trust found that middle-class graduates made more use of internships as stepping stones into sectors such as finance or IT, even in cases where the internships paid nothing or below the minimum wage as required by legislation.

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US students score win in push for fossil fuel divestment by private high schools

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Concerned students press for their high schools – some with $1bn endowments – to reinvest in clean energy

A high school in California has decided not to invest in coal, oil or gas, instead pledging to put money into clean energy. It’s the latest win in a new fossil fuel divestment campus campaign launched by high schoolers across 11 countries that is gaining support in the US.

The Nueva School, an elite private school outside San Francisco, pledged in spring 2024 to invest a portion of its $55m endowment in renewable power. The commitment followed months of pressure from students.

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Palestinian student stripped of UK visa after Gaza remarks wins human rights appeal

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Home Office failed to show presence of Dana Abu Qamar ‘not conducive to public good’, according to tribunal ruling

A Palestinian student who was stripped of her student visa after remarks she made about the Israel-Gaza war has won a human rights appeal against the Home Office’s decision.

The Home Office failed to demonstrate that the presence of Dana Abu Qamar, 20, was “not conducive to public good” after the law student’s visa was revoked in December 2023, according to a tribunal ruling.

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Diverse sexuality reported by more than one in 10 Australian high school students

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Authors of study that found 12% of year 8 pupils identify as gay, bisexual, pansexual or asexual say results highlight ‘urgent need’ for support services

More than one in 10 Australian teenagers identify as gay, bisexual, pansexual or asexual, a survey of high school students has found.

Researchers surveyed 6,388 year 8 students between 2019 and 2021, finding that 12% of the teens reported diverse sexualities, while 3.3% identified as gender-diverse.

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Alarm at first fall in disadvantaged students in England reaching university

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Proportion of students eligible for free school meals at 15 who progress to higher education falls from 29.2% to 29%

The proportion of disadvantaged teenagers in England going on to study at university has fallen for the first time on record, leading to accusations that the country is moving backwards in terms of social mobility.

Figures released by the Department for Education show that 29% of students eligible for free school meals at 15 had progressed to university by the age of 19 in 2022-23, compared with 29.2% the previous year – the first time the rate has fallen since it was first measured in 2005-06.

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Private London college taught students by showing videos, investigation reveals

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Business students at £9,250-a-year Regent College London raised series of complaints with Office for Students

Students at a private higher education college charging £9,250 a year were taught by staff reading out bullet points and showing videos, according to an investigation that found one tutor held an online class while appearing to be on public transport.

The students attending Regent College London told investigators from England’s higher education regulator that teaching staff changed frequently, including one cover tutor who “arrived almost half an hour late” to host an online class and “was clearly travelling or in a public place”.

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