The University of Stirling has allegedly withdrawn a previously detained student, Muhammad Rauf Waris, from his studies.
The migrant student from Pakistan was back on his course at the start of the 2023/24 academic year after a ‘distressing’ experience following a raid at his place of work.
However, Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) shared a screenshot on their X (previously Twitter) page of a letter allegedly sent to Mr Waris that stated he had been withdrawn from his postgraduate studies.
Mr Waris is the centre of an online social media campaign, #WeAreAllMuhammad after he was held for two months at Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire. He experienced alleged “mental torture” and was eventually granted bail after widespread outrage at his arrest. He is also struggling to pay tuition fees and general living costs as he is no longer allowed to work while his case is under review.
URBC and Mr Waris maintain that he has not violated his visa and that the university is not communicating with the relevant teams.
A spokesperson for the University of Stirling said: “The University cannot comment on the personal circumstances of individuals. However, we have been, and continue to be in, regular contact with Muhammad to offer support.”
The allegations come after the University’s alleged lack of response to a letter of support for Muhammad which included various stipulations and called into question the UK’s ‘hostile environment policy.’
According to URBC, the hostile environment is a policy established in 2012 under the coalition government when Theresa May was Home Secretary. URBC maintains that the intention of this policy was to bring down the net migration statistics by creating barriers for all kinds of migrants in accessing the NHS, housing, education (schools and universities), employment, getting a driver’s licence, banking and getting married.
As a result of this policy, UK universities, as the immigration sponsor for migrant students and staff, must carry out attendance monitoring checks to satisfy Home Office requirements. URBC claim that many universities go above and beyond what is dictated by the Home Office to show that they are in compliance with immigration policy, allegedly over-reporting migrant students and staff for supposed immigration infractions.
The situation involving Mr Waris seems to reflect a similar and growing trend across the UK.
An article from The Guardian alleges that the UK government’s immigration policies are having a negative on enrolment of international students:
“Data from more than 60 UK universities shows that the number of study visas issued has fallen by 33% this year compared with the same time last year. A separate survey of 70 universities by UUK found that enrolments in postgraduate taught courses were down by more than 40% since January’s immigration changes.”
Over 320,000 international students account make up nearly half of enrolments on taught courses at UK universities, paying tuition fees averaging about £17,000 a year. Many university leaders fear the reduction in numbers will have a negative economic effect on the UK and its’ universities.
The Department for Education said: “We are fully focused on striking the right balance between acting decisively to tackle net migration, which we are clear is far too high, and attracting the brightest students to study at our universities.”
Featured Image Credit: Muhammad Rauf Waris
4th year English and Journalism student with a passion for interesting stories and interesting people
