Leicester joins universities acting to create opportunities for students shut out by visa brake
The University of Leicester is one of nine UK universities who have jointly committed funded postgraduate places for students from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Cameroon, after the Home Office's decision in March to suspend study visa applications from those countries closed off access to UK campus scholarships, including Chevening, through which approximately 50 students from these four countries accessed postgraduate study each year.
So far 19 places have been secured for the Mosaik Scholarship from Leicester, King's College London, the University of London, the University of Northampton, the University of St Andrews, Cardiff University, Birkbeck, University of London, the University of Salford, and Aberystwyth University with Higher Ed Partners UK. All places will be delivered through online or transnational education, currently the only routes to a UK degree for students from the four affected countries.
The response has been coordinated through the Global Response Platform, a sector-wide initiative led by Mosaik Education that connects UK universities to humanitarian networks working with displaced and crisis-affected students. Universities are supported with student identification and selection, and coordination with partners in the countries where affected students are based, including UNHCR India, Prospect Burma, and Open Dreams in Cameroon.
The University of Leicester has pledged to provide two places on distance learning Master's programmes for students from countries affected by the visa brake for this coming academic year via the Mosaik Scholarship scheme. Leicester is among the leading UK universities in terms of numbers of Distance Learning Sanctuary Awards on Master's programmes allocated to displaced students. Since 2018, the University has placed 110 displaced students based in various contexts globally (including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Palestine and Syria)
Aleks Palanac, Head of Sanctuary at the University of Leicester, said: “We are delighted to be able to contribute to this initiative, which represents an innovative way to respond to this shift in policy collectively and decisively as a sector to ensure that support is maintained for students from fragile contexts to continue their education.”
Further university commitments are anticipated later in 2026, with the overall aim of supporting 50 students from these communities. Mosaik Education is calling on UK universities with online or TNE provision to commit places to join the collective action of the Mosaik Scholarship.
Ben Webster, CEO of Mosaik Education, said: “For students in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Cameroon, a UK scholarship was one of very few viable ways to continue an education that conflict had already disrupted once. The visa brake closed this route for them. With UK universities teaching over 650,000 students outside the UK, the infrastructure to reach these students has always been there. What was missing was a way for the sector to act on it together. This is exactly why we established the Global Response Platform, and these universities have shown that quick, coordinated action is possible and impactful.”