Speaking at an APPG for International Students event, Katherine Gladwell, chief executive of Refugee Education UK, said the pathway builds on the charity’s pilot supporting academically talented refugees to access higher education. The government announced the new route in June.
Students will undergo refugee status determination led by UNHCR before leaving their first country of asylum. Successful applicants would arrive with refugee status, be classed as home students and become eligible for student finance.
“We’re aiming to build a cohort of about 15 universities,” said Gladwell. Each institution is expected to offer places to between two and five students. Participating universities are being asked to provide year-round accommodation and a bursary of about £3,500 per student, on top of student finance.
The first-year target of 40 is not a fixed limit, she said, but a practical starting point. “It’s not a kind of official cap,” said Gladwell. “It’s a steer in terms of practical capacity” to get students through an expedited process in time for the 2027 academic year.
Gladwell said the scheme would be based on countries of first asylum, rather than nationality alone. The government has yet to confirm which countries will be eligible.
The route is being developed through a lead-sponsor model. The accreditation process for sponsor organisations is expected to conclude in the coming weeks; in the meantime, Refugee Education UK has been asked to help universities prepare and develop the student application process so it can meet the academic timetable.
Gladwell described the pathway as a “win-win-win situation” for students, universities and the communities they will join.
“It’s clearly a win for the students who are getting both an education opportunity and a resettlement opportunity through this scheme. And international research shows that it’s a win for the universities who participate, and their campuses become enriched, and the students who are highly motivated to learn. And it’s also a win for the communities that these students ultimately will end up contributing to.”
Quoting a student from the charity’s pilot, she added: “Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not.”
Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not
International student
Gladwell pointed to Australia and Canada as having examples of similar education pathways for refugees. Canada’s own scheme now supports 170 students, she said, although it has been running for decades.
The UK’s first cohort will also depend on universities coming forward. Gladwell noted that financial pressures may make it harder for a wider range of institutions to participate, and said she would like to see universities with different entry requirements involved.
The discussion comes amid concerns over the government’s visa brake affecting nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, and wider debate about students who seek asylum after arriving in the UK.
Deepa Chadha, policy adviser at the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), argued that a later asylum claim should not, by itself, be taken as proof that a student misused the visa route. “Someone may continue to have the genuine intention to study while they declare the legitimate need for protection,” she said.
“Those facts are not mutually exclusive.”
She criticised the visa brake as a blanket measure introduced without individual consideration of humanitarian circumstances or adequate transitional protection, and called for a “more predictable, proportionate response” that allows students to continue their education when circumstances change.
