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Representatives for one million students call for vote on final Brexit deal

UK university and college representatives for nearly one million students have joined calls for a vote on the final Brexit deal with the promise of more government lobbying to come over fears that leaving the EU will have a negative effect on students’ prospects.

Student groups such as FFS have expressed concern regarding the future of the Erasmus program. Image: FFS

Students have also shown concern for the continuing availability of the Erasmus program

Groups such as For our Future’s Sake and Our Future, Our Choice and universities have also expressed concern for the future of the Erasmus program and the availability of an “internationalised” education for British students.

Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson, student mobilisation coordinator at FFS, said at the time of the 2016 referendum there had not been enough investigation into the effects on international education.

“Over one million people have turned 18 since June 23 2016”

“How long we would be allowed to participate in Erasmus or whether international students would be part of net migration figures… none of that had been scoped out, considered or looked into,” she said.

“Over one million people have turned 18 since June 23, 2016, a lot of them will want to benefit from an internationalised and European education.”

Cambridge University’s iCUSU was quick to join the FFS campaign, according to Chetwynd-Cowieson, as were UK students on Erasmus and medical placements abroad. Many of the group’s elected representatives are international students.

“[Brexit] feels like a decision that 70% of 18-24 year-olds didn’t vote for. It is shutting doors in our faces when it comes to an internationalised education system,” she added.

Anthony Manning, dean for internationalisation at the University of Kent, said students have shown concern for the continuing availability of the Erasmus program.

“[Brexit] is shutting doors in our faces when it comes to an internationalised education system”

“We have been building separate agreements with our universities that we currently have Erasmus agreements with to try to ensure that if Erasmus is withdrawn, we will have bilateral agreements in place,” he said.

“They are waiting in the wings ready to be signed should Erasmus no longer be available.”

The university has been working closely with Universities UK to press the government on the benefits of the Erasmus program.

Staff have been raising awareness of how to cope if international activity were to decrease, according to Manning, “whether that’s due to more restrictive visa regulations or the lack of attractiveness to be in the UK given the policies or the brand image that [has been] created”.

Patrick Hall, a international master’s student at London School of Economics and the former secretary for the university’s European society, told The PIE News there are mixed feelings on calls for a second vote among students from the EU.

“It depends who you are talking to… One half will say it’s up to the British people to decide, they don’t want to comment on it. The other half says they would love them to have a second vote because [they think] it is a very bad decision,” he stated.

Hall is yet to decide whether he is for a second vote, although he recognises that international students in Britain have “every right” to call for one.

“The issue is there is no guarantee what my rights will look like”

“Myself and a lot of the people I know want to get out of the country after finishing my studies,” he said.

“The big reason is Brexit. I’d love to work and live in this country. I’ve got friends here, my girlfriend lives here. The issue is there is no guarantee what my rights will look like.”

Earlier in May 2018 The Times reported that xenophobia and hate crime has been rising since the EU vote.

This is something Hall said he has witnessed first hand. He said was shouted at as an undergraduate in Durham following the Brexit vote for speaking Dutch, and told to “go back to his country”.

Hall added that he understands levels of immigration in the UK might not be sustainable, but “the way it has been presented is in such an aggressive way”.

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One Response to Representatives for one million students call for vote on final Brexit deal

  1. If it’s a vote to either
    A) accept the deal negotiated by the UK government
    Or
    B) reject the deal and leave on WTO terms

    Then give the students a vote.

    Oh, but they probably want a third option, to cancel the largest ever democratic mandate given in UK electoral history and remain in the EU. I don’t see this happening.

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