UK Immigration Policy Discouraging Foreign Students

The United Kingdom’s (UK) immigration policy is increasingly furthering the notion that foreign students are unwelcome. A study conducted by University and College Union (UCU), a professional association of lecturers, trainers, academics and researchers working in UK universities, reveals that 52 percent of the respondents in the study, who hail from non-EU countries, admit that they feel unwelcome in the UK.

The study, conducted between May 13 and 15 2013, came against the backdrop of the government’s decision to group overseas students from non-EU states as one of its net migration targets. Net migration is the balance between the number of people who come to live in the UK for long periods and those who are leaving. In formulating the policy, the government hopes to reduce the net migration rates to less than 100,000 by 2015.

British universities will be the hardest hit by the policy. Even as early as September 2012, statistics released by Universities UK indicated that student arrivals from India, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had declined by 32, 31 and 22 percent respectively. 

Students from Africa will also undoubtedly feel the effects of the policy—many Africans go to UK to further their education. GoStudy UK revealed that Africans constituted 12 percent of non-EU students in the country in 2011. Nigeria accounted for 48 percent of these students while Libya and Kenya came in second and third with 7 percent and 6 percent respectively.

UCU president Simon Renton criticised the government for its indifference to the ramifications of its tough talk on immigration.“UK has built a reputation for excellent education services, which attract the brightest brains worldwide to our institutions. The government needs to take care not to reverse the gains achieved thus far,” Mr. Renton stated.

His comments could not be farther from the truth. The same study conducted by UCU, reveals that UK universities are held in high esteem by foreign students. Eighty-two per cent of the interviewed non-EU students applaud the level of support offered by teachers whereas eighty-one percent believe that these universities offer quality teaching.

Parliament has also voiced its concerns over the immigration policy and its effects on UK as an attractive academic destination. In January, the chair persons of five parliamentary committees (Home Affairs, Business, Public Accounts, Science and Technology and Europe sub-committee) wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron asking him to balance between the need for tougher restrictions and the need for economic growth. They requested him to remove overseas students from the net migration targets. However, the government insists that the policy aims to stifle the abuse of UK’s immigration system.

What do you think? Would you feel comfortable in the UK with the policy in existence?

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Two African Migrants Sue France and Spain for Negligence

Two African migrants have sued the Spanish and French military for their failure to answer their distress calls while stranded in the Mediterranean Sea two years ago. The two were among 72 migrants who were marooned at sea while trying to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Abu Kurke, one of the two complainants, gave an account of the harrowing ordeal, which claimed the lives of 63 people. “We waited for help but it wasn’t forthcoming. People started losing their lives after three days; others fell into the water and couldn’t climb back in,” he narrated.

Kurke, who was fleeing Ethiopia because of political violence, said that a helicopter that had provided them with water and biscuits never returned as its crew had promised. Indeed, The Council of Europe, Europe’s human rights body, conducted an investigation in 2012 that revealed the legal and institutional failures, which led to the incident. 

The indifference of the European military units was a contravention of international maritime law, which requires all vessels at sea, including military units, to offer help and answer distress calls. The units were then engaging in a military operation against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya.

The new complaint comes hot on the heels of the first one, which was thrown out by the prosecutor’s office in Paris after the French military denied responsibility. Enjoined in the second complaint are four civil rights groups including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). It seeks a judicial inquiry into the incident by an investigating judge.

According to the Guardian newspaper, which first exposed the story in 2011, 61 people, including two newborns, died on board the tiny dinghy while two others passed away after the boat ended up in Zlitan, Misrata in Libya. It was carrying 47 Ethiopians, seven Eritreans, seven Nigerians, five Sudanese and six Ghanaians.

Stories of African migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe are not uncommon. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that 58,000 migrants used the route to reach Europe in 2011. The commission cited the Arab uprising as the main reason for the upsurge in migrants, which was the highest figure since 2008. 1, 500 people were not lucky and lost their lives within the same period.

The dangerous journey to Europe usually involves an energy-sapping trek across the Sahara desert where many migrants die from thirst. Crossing the Mediterranean brings with it the risk of drowning as was witnessed in the case of Abu Kurke and his companions. The risk is even greater when the boats are unworthy and are manned by the migrants themselves who may not be experienced in steering the vessels to safety.

Unaccompanied minors and pregnant women are often the most affected by the inhumane conditions, which characterise the journey across the Mediterranean into Europe.  The boats are often too small to accommodate the large number of passengers while basic necessities, such as, food and water are usually inadequate. Rape and beatings are also common occurrences during these harrowing trips.

As if that is not enough tribulation, there is the risk of being shot down by border guards. Simon Cheung, a Libyan-based UNHCR Senior Protection Officer reveals that cases of migrants reaching their destinations with gunshot wounds are common.

Organised criminal groups have been the main beneficiaries of African migrants’ desire to reach their destinations. Taking advantage of the latter’s problems, these groups charge a fee to ferry migrants across the sea into Europe. For example, a trip from West Africa through the Libyan coast en route to Europe costs between $2,000 and $3,000.

Some migrants end up as slaves of the criminals upon reaching their destination where they engage in various dangerous activities to pay off the debts owed to the groups. The fear of deportation to their homeland forces these migrants to toe the line of the criminal groups.

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Prof. Oucho Decries Unimpressive EAC Efforts to Engage the Diaspora

Africa Migration and Development Policy Centre (AMADPOC) Executive Director Prof. John Oucho has decried inadequate efforts undertaken by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in engaging East Africans who claim to be ‘East African diaspora.’

In his paper titled, ‘Engaging the East African Diaspora,’ he states that on-going efforts of EAC partner states to engage with its national diaspora continue to constrain the interests of the regional body in connecting with its citizens in the diaspora.

The paper, which he presented a fortnight ago at the Conference on Diasporas, Development and Governance in the Global South at Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, dismisses the existence of the term ‘East African diaspora.’

Instead, Prof. Oucho advocates for the term, 'National East African diasporas' because citizens who live outside the region identify with their specific countries in EAC. “Even within these countries, the national diaspora segments into various factions based on ethnicity, professional standing and administrative background,” Prof. Oucho opines.

Furthermore, according to Prof. Oucho, the efforts of the diaspora to engage with EAC Partner States face several obstacles including their heterogeneous nature. “Conflict-generated diaspora consist of a mix of various people from a country who arrived in the host nation at different times through varied means due to different reasons and thus, possess different statuses,” the paper states.

The existence of mistrust between governments and its citizens in the diaspora also negatively shapes the latter’s perceptions towards their homeland. Such perception results from the likelihood that the diaspora left their countries involuntarily to escape conflicts or political persecution. As such, their involvement in their countries’ home-based developments is largely negative.

The AMADPOC Executive Director also describes efforts by ‘East African Diaspora’ to engage in the development of EAC as superficial and simplistic. Nevertheless, he portends a ray of hope if these efforts can be harnessed properly. Prof. Oucho cites the case of East Africa Radio in the United States (Radio for the East African Diaspora), which uses Swahili programmes to reach out to many East Africans in the diaspora.

Another classical example is Cuso International that uses the East African Volunteer Opportunities to allow skilled volunteers share skills and enhance the capacity of partner organisations, such as, beneficiary groups in Kenya. It does this in the context of Diaspora for Development (DfD).  

The paper delves into the initiatives of Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda in engaging their national diasporas. It notes the challenges East Africans in the diaspora face in participating in the development of their home countries.

AMADPOC’s research report in 2011 on the perceptions and attitudes of Kenyan and Tanzanian citizens’ towards their diasporas revealed their dislike of the diasporas’  demand for special attention at the expense of these people who never left their countries.  Ugandan citizens also have a negative attitude towards their diaspora—referring to them as Nkuba Nkyeyo—a demeaning word that reflects the citizens’ disdain for dirty work.  

The paper also addresses the EAC’s ultimate dream of the East African Federation stating that, “Establishing the much-desired East Africa Political Federation is pivotal to engaging successfully with the East African diaspora, but should be done carefully rather than hurriedly.” This dream, while held at the level of the EAC Summit, has not taken into consideration the perceptions, attitudes, apprehensions and aspirations of the EAC Partner States’ citizens. This requires research before structures for the federation could be put in place.

Prof. Oucho further advises that various Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in the region, like the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the EAC and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), should engage in extensive discourse, redrafting legislative frameworks and commissioning research to enable them gain informed knowledge of a meaningful East African diaspora. Till then, EAC’s engagement with its diaspora remains a mirage no matter how sweet it sounds.

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AMADPOC Launches New Migration Information Platform

Africa Migration and Policy Development Centre (AMADPOC) has launched a blog dedicated to issues related to the migration-development nexus. The blog titled The Africa Migration Insider will be a platform for debates, in-depth analyses and information regarding the migration-development nexus within Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Africa Migration Insider will be an efficient communication channel that connects various stakeholders, such as, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), research and educational institutions, national governments, the general public and experts in migration and development.

As part of its initiative, AMADPOC encourages those who may wish to author guest articles for this blog based on migration-related matters, such as, migrant rights, child trafficking, Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs), refugees, the diaspora and brain drain and gain. other themes that guest authors can tackle include  brain waste, irregular migration relating to human trafficking and in-country as well as international migrant smuggling among others.

The launch of the Africa Migration Insider is part of AMADPOC's mission to influence research in the society, create linkages among African states, share experiences and build  capacity  in the corridors of national governments, inter-governmental cooperation and research institutions. This would be beneficial when dealing with development partners regarding migration and development issues, which affect them.

AMADPOC is a private think tank and research organization that undertakes and streamlines policy-oriented research on various types of migration and their interrelations with development within the Sub-Saharan region and in its relations with the North and the rest of the south.

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