A worried student has been told he must leave the country to get a visa so he can continue his academic career.
Will Scheffler is a US citizen who recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He currently holds a conditional offer at the London School of Economics and is looking to pursue his studies in the next academic year.
Will was shocked when he received an email from the university that stated that if he wanted to extend his student visa permission, he would have to do it from outside the UK if he hadn't been given a degree classification.
Due to the ongoing marking boycott at the University of Edinburgh, Will will be graduating from the university with no such classification.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Will said: "I got the email sent to my university email on Monday afternoon.
"It's really frustrating because it's a direct contradiction to what Edinburgh University told us in the past.
"I would still likely be able to take my place at LSE next year, it would just mean that I would quite urgently have to get a flight home that would cost me several hundred pounds to apply for a student visa outside the UK, if what they’re saying is the actual Home Office advice.
"I have also been in conversations with many people at some other universities and it seems that Edinburgh's information that they are giving out might be directly contradictory to what other universities are telling their students - this is really worrying."
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Will took to Twitter after receiving the letter. He posted: "I received this email from @EdinburghUni yesterday. I hold a postgraduate offer at LSE, am a US citizen, and will be graduating from Edinburgh Uni this week without a degree, due to the marking and assessment boycott. My entire plan for the coming year has been thrown into chaos", a student at Kings College London described to Will what they had been told."
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The conversations that Will has had with other students over Twitter has led to him feeling confused about what he was originally told by the university.
Will said: "I thought I would be able to apply for a visa extension in the UK.
"I have a job here this summer and I pay rent for a flat in Edinburgh, I'm already sacrificing a lot on this end so it's such an inconvenience and will cost a great sum of money to do something very urgently that we didn't think we needed to do in the first place."
The marking and assessment boycott was initiated in April by the University and College Union at institutions across the UK due to a row over pay and working conditions for the staff.
Due to the boycott, some students have left university with no degree, including Will and he believes it's a ridiculous situation that the university has put the staff and students in.
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Will explained to Edinburgh Live that his plans to study at London School of Economics may still be able to go ahead if he manages to secure a student visa outside of the UK.
However, in order to do this, he would urgently have to get a flight home which would cost hundreds of pounds.
Will said: "It's an endlessly frustrating situation. I would say we heard about this marking and assessment boycott back in, I believe it was April, so several months ago now.
"They had to know these issues were coming and the fact that the university hasn't been able to sort out the boycott itself but also has not been able to provide information in a timely manner is incredibly frustrating."
Due to ongoing anger felt by students at the University of Edinburgh, hundreds of students gathered at Potterrow on Tuesday afternoon at 12.30pm to stand in solidarity with their teachers and to fight against being handed 'empty degrees'.
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Responding to yesterday's protest, a spokesperson for the University of Edinburgh said: "We are deeply sorry about the continued uncertainty students face over their futures.
"We welcome the confirmation of exploratory talks between the Universities and Colleges Employers Association and joint union representatives, due to take place this coming Friday (14 July), aimed at bringing an end to the marking and assessment boycott. We understand the strength of feeling on these issues of national dispute and we support the right of our students to demonstrate lawfully and peacefully."
Commenting on Will's situation, a University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “The marking and assessment boycott is a sector-wide issue and we recognise that many students across the UK are experiencing delays in receiving their final degree results. We are profoundly sorry that we have not been able to shield our students from the impact of this UK-wide dispute.
"We are clarifying our advice on visas to students in this complex situation and we are in line with others in the sector. The impact of the boycott varies from student to student; therefore, we continue to encourage any students that are concerned about their visa status to contact our Student Immigration Service who can advise them on the best course of action for their circumstances.”
