A Palestinian student has been granted a fees waiver from the University following a public campaign. Ibrahim Alghorane, 19, received an offer to study Software Engineering on the 24th July, but had no means to pay tuition fees or fulfil the £10k living costs requirement for a UK Visa application. His campaign for funded entry gained significant traction following his rejection on the 28th July from UofG’s Dima Alhaj Scholarship, a single scholarship seat which provides a full fees waiver and living costs funding for one Palestinian student.
Currently living in Gaza with his five siblings, Alghorane was not discouraged by the rejection and told The Glasgow Guardian “I will keep going, I will study at the University of Glasgow”. His story was picked up by a series of groups and individuals including GUJPS, comedian Zara Gladman and The National newspaper. GUJPS called UofG’s offering of only one scholarship for Palestinian students “disgraceful”.
Alghorane began posting about the obstacles to studying at Glasgow on the 26th July on his Instagram account. On the 19th August he received a waiver of tuition fees and the immigration health surcharge, and a stipend of £4000 from UofG through their Humanitarian response fund. This still left over £6000 needed to meet the UK Visa living cost requirement – Alghorane publicised this on his social media, along with a plea for contributions to his family donation page, in a post which received over 3000 likes. The University subsequently amended the amount awarded on the 27th August to cover his Visa requirements in full.
Alghorane will be among one of the first students to gain entry to the UK from Gaza since the war began. He is one of 40 students with scholarships to study at UK universities who will come to the country under plans agreed by the UK Government. The Home Office has deferred the necessary biometric checks, in keeping with their own guidance on unsafe journeys and biometric enrolment. This means Alghorane will be allowed to travel to a safe third country, such as Egypt or Jordan, to complete biometric checks en route to the UK.
There are a total of 80 Palestinian students who hold offers from UK universities to study this year. It is unclear if the remaining 40 without scholarships will be able to take up their places.
