Statement Regarding The Sunday Times “Cash for Courses: Top Universities Recruit Foreign Students on Low Grades”

Screenshot of The Sunday Times front page with headline "exposed: foreign students get secret route to top universities"
The Sunday Times front page, 28 January 2024

On Saturday 28 January 2024, The Sunday Times published a piece entitled, “Cash for Courses: Top Universities Recruit Foreign Students on Low Grades.” The piece has since been featured on The Times YouTube channel in addition to the Daily Mail. The main crux of The Times investigation is that migrant students (dubbed foreign or international students) are using the international foundation courses at a number of elite Russell Group universities in order to gain admittance into undergraduate courses despite having lower grades below the entry requirement than their home (British) student counterparts.

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Statement from URBC on The Observer’s “Human traffickers ‘using UK universities as cover'”

Screenshot of an article from The Observer titled "human traffickers 'using UK universities as cover'. Overseas students have vanished from courses and then been found working in exploitative conditions"

After years on the frontline, Unis Resist Border Control (URBC)  have extensive familiarity with the exploitative situations migrant students in the UK find themselves in. As such, we are extremely concerned about The Observer article “Human traffickers ‘using UK universities as cover’” published on 3 July 2022 by Shanti Das, and the conclusions that are drawn upon.

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Thoughts from URBC on recent student occupations and fee strikes.


Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) a national campaign comprising migrant students, lecturers, and activists fighting to end the two pronged beasts within UK higher education, that being of course border control via the hostile environment policy and exploitation brought on my neoliberal, marketised education. Unlike the student movement ten years ago which ignored the plight of international students, URBC has been a steadfastly free education campaign, believing that the fight for free education should be extended to migrants, whatever their immigration status.

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Caroline Lucas Agrees with URBC: “It is cruel for the Government to simply abandon international students”

A member of Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) shared this response they received from Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion. This response follows taking part in our #MichelleMocksStudents action where we asked supporters to send this template letter to their MPs demanding #TuitionFeeAmnesty for international students affected by the multiple UK COVID-19 lockdowns.

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URBC Supports Sisters Uncut, UKBLM, & Others in Abolishing the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill, #KillTheBill!

URBC member Louisa, speaking at the Sisters Uncut Manchester #KillTheBill protest, 20 March 2021.

Statement from URBC, #KillTheBill

 Unis Resist Border Control (URBC) stands in rage and solidarity with Sisters Uncut and all other prison and border abolition organisations in opposition to the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill. It’s been a long week. we are thankful for all the work Sisters Uncut in London have done for linking the disappearance of Sarah Everard to wider issues about policing, state violence and highlighting the dangers of this bill.

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