Nine UK universities offer online degrees to students hit by visa pause

Nine UK universities have joined hands with NGO Mosaik Education to offer remote postgraduate study opportunities to international students from countries affected by the UK government's study visa pause, according to The PIE News.

The universities are participating in the newly launched Mosaik Scholarship, which aims to provide alternative routes to UK postgraduate education for students from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Cameroon after the Home Office introduced a "visa brake" in March.

The UK government paused study visa applications from the four countries after raising concerns over asylum claims by international students. The move also prevented students from accessing UK campus-based scholarships, including the Chevening programme, through which around 50 students from these countries had previously pursued postgraduate studies each year.


According to The PIE News, the participating institutions include King's College London, the University of London, the University of Leicester, the University of Northampton, the University of St Andrews, Cardiff University, Birkbeck, University of London, the University of Salford and Aberystwyth University, working in partnership with Higher Ed Partners UK.

All courses will be delivered through online or transnational education (TNE), currently the only available option for new students from the affected countries to earn a UK degree.

The initiative is being coordinated through the Global Response Platform, led by Mosaik Education, which connects UK universities with humanitarian organisations supporting displaced and crisis-affected students. The platform also works with partners including UNHCR India, Prospect Burma and Open Dreams in Cameroon to identify eligible students.

So far, 19 funded places have been secured, with the initiative aiming to support around 50 students as more universities are expected to join later this year.

Ben Webster, CEO of Mosaik Education, said the collaboration showed how universities could respond when conventional education pathways were disrupted.

"For students in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Cameroon, a UK scholarship was one of very few viable ways to continue an education that conflict had already disrupted once. The visa brake closed this route for them. With UK universities teaching over 650,000 students outside the UK, the infrastructure to reach these students has always been there. What was missing was a way for the sector to act on it together," Webster said,

Mosaik Education is encouraging more UK universities with online or transnational education programmes to join the initiative and offer additional scholarship places.

Why are students affected?

The UK government introduced a "visa brake" in March, pausing new study visa applications from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Cameroon after citing concerns over the proportion of international students from these countries claiming asylum after arriving in Britain.

The move blocked students from accessing campus-based UK scholarships, including the Chevening programme, which had enabled around 50 students from the four countries to pursue postgraduate education in the UK each year. As a result, online and transnational education have become the only available pathways for many new applicants from these nations to obtain a UK degree.