Gazan students fear for future as path to UK remains blocked

When most students hit “apply” on their university applications, it does not require an hour’s walk to access secure wi-fi and a battle to get documents completed before laptop batteries run out, overshadowed by the sound of artillery.

But this was the experience of students in Gaza who, despite succeeding against the odds to secure places in the top UK universities, now face being blocked by Home Office requirements.

Some 80 Gazan students holding offers for UK study have been unable to take up their places this coming academic year because of the need to submit biometric data as part of their visa applications, despite the relevant office having been closed in Gaza since Hamas’ 7 October attack in Israel.

The students have been unable to travel to Jordan and Egypt – the nearest offices available to submit the data – because of Gaza’s closed borders and Israel’s bombardment. 

“The internet connection in the area where I was displaced was almost non-existent, so I had to walk about an hour to reach a place with a signal to research, prepare documents, and submit my applications,” said Israa, a 24-year-old from Gaza who has been accepted to study building information modelling and digital transformation at the University of Liverpool. 

With no electricity source other than solar panels, she was limited to a two-hour window to complete her work before her laptop battery ran out. 

This is a common occurrence for students in Gaza, who are displaced and living in camps as their homes have been destroyed. Majd, a 24-year-old student holding an offer to study an MSc in advanced manufacturing systems and technology also at Liverpool, said “every step, no matter how small, took days of preparation and patience”. 

He described staying up late at night or waking very early “just to catch a few minutes of stable internet”.

Meanwhile, Yara, who is 23 years old, wrote her applications by hand, before risking dangerous journeys to secure stable access to submit them. “It felt almost impossible,” she said.

For many, this is not their first time applying to UK universities – and it is not the first time they have been unable to take up their places.

Originally due to start his course in January 2025, Majd was forced to delay his plans until the autumn as the blockade and border closures meant he was unable to travel to a neighbouring country to provide the required data.

Little has changed since then – and conditions have in fact worsened – and he said that this is “my final chance” of accessing UK higher education before he misses out on a “once in a lifetime opportunity”, as he will lose his scholarship funded by the Al Qaddumi Foundation if he does not attend in September. And with it, “my only pathway to gaining the knowledge and skills I’ve worked tirelessly for”.

Israa, meanwhile, first applied in 2024, but was unable to complete her application as a lack of stable internet and repeated displacements meant she was unable to complete the two-hour English language exam – cited as a point of stress for many – required of international students. The thought of losing the opportunity to study again “is deeply worrying and heartbreaking”, she said.

“The same circumstances keep worsening, and it often feels as though our voices are not being heard. We lost the chance last year, and now even the possibility of losing it again makes me question whether the world values me as much as I value living, creating and contributing to it – and to my country,” she said.

For Leen, a 25-year-old humanitarian worker in Gaza who has been accepted on to the defence, development and diplomacy MSc at Durham University, government inaction would result in “wasted years of hard work” and “would suggest that no matter how hard we try, doors will remain closed”.

“If the visa issues are not resolved in time, the consequences will be devastating for my mental health, my future and the future of those I hope to support,” she said.

There have been few moments of respite amid the fighting, but Majd was able to return to his former home during January’s short-lived ceasefire. While it lay in ruins and surrounded by the shells of former buildings, “[it] reminded me to hold on to hope and resilience for the future”. 

The students are guided by hope and the belief that higher education is a truly transformational opportunity. Majd noted that higher education in Gaza has been all but destroyed amid the fighting, and said supporting Gazan students to access education “benefits entire communities, not just themselves”.

“For me, it goes beyond just getting a degree; it’s about preparing myself to help rebuild the industries and infrastructure my community will desperately need after the war, as every industrial facility now bears the scars of destruction,” he said.

Higher education represents more than just “an academic pursuit”, said Leen, who sees it as an opportunity to “empower” her community upon her return. Yara – who before the war had set up an initiative to teach children about the environment – agreed that their pleas to access their education are “about more than degrees”, and instead a force for societal change.

While the government has recently said it will evacuate nine Gazan students who have received government-funded scholarships to take up their places, the fate of the rest of the students remains uncertain, and politicians have told Times Higher Education that “time is running out” to support students in time for the new academic year.

Israa said: “I’m among the rest of [the] students who have not yet received any response. What will happen to the rest of us? Will the government decide to support us in the same way?”