At the end of January, the United Kingdom became the first country to exit the European Union. Negotiations began in 2016 after 52% of voters declared they wanted the UK to leave the EU, which took just over four years, three different Prime Ministers, and three extensions of Article 50. The transition caused major disruptions in the economic, political, and social sphere. However, with Covid, the effect it has had on EU students residing in the UK is more tangible than ever.
To understand Brexit’s effect, I interviewed three final year students from Portugal – Ana Sousa, Ines Santos and Júlia Fachinetti – who started university here in the UK in 2018, two years into negotiations. Their biggest worries? The effect on their student status and career.
All girls plan to move onto postgraduate studies after graduation in June. While the experience of applying for a Masters is very similar to those of British students – choose a course, write the cover letter, send the application and hope for the best – there is a cloud of uncertainty for EU students that native ones do not experience. Having received their EU-Pre-Settlement status, Ana, Ines and Julia, now hold similar rights to British citizens in the UK. Student Finance England (SFE) has confirmed that EU students who have settled status in the UK will be able to receive a postgraduate loan. However, their institutional statuses are yet to be decided. British students-or home students- benefit from lower fee rates than international students. In some places, international fees are double the cost of home fees.
If Ana, Ines and Júlia are determined to be home students, their SFE loan will cover their tuition fees. However, if they are considered international students, the SFE loan will only go so far in covering the tuition fees and accommodation costs. Ana and Ines have received conditional offers from at least one university they have applied to. However, Ana indicated “on the application, where it should say home student or international student, it says it is to be confirmed”.
With students securing job offers and postgraduate offers, this can be unsettling. When asked if they had back up plans in case of the worst, all three expressed hesitance. Júlia said she might “stay in the UK and work”. Ines indicated she would “look for a Masters in another country with cheaper fees”. However, they are hopeful. With a confirmed loan from SFE, they are hopeful universities will mirror this stance.
The status of EU students in the UK affects situations beyond education;namely with regards to the coronavirus pandemic. The constantly changing rules of UK borders has resulted in a year of uncertainty for Portuguese students. An overarching concern is if EU students will receive the vaccine under the UK vaccine programme, and how far down the priority list EU students are.
The UK is projected to have offered vaccines to all adults by autumn. It is one of the fastest vaccine distribution programmes in the world, only falling short of Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Ana, Ines and Júlia pointed to a number of unanswered questions: “do we have the same priority as British citizens? Do we have to pay for the vaccine? Will the university help with these costs?”.
They expressed further concern following their graduations when they are no longer students at the University of Sheffield. Júlia referred to this period as “not belonging to any university”. How this will affect their access to the vaccine is a worry, all three noted. An option, as Júlia indicated, would be to “go back to Portugal and get the vaccine”.
The burden of the pandemic is not limited to vaccines. In February 2021, the UK announced new border rules and introduced a new quarantine framework. Portugal is on the red list of countries released by the government. As a consequence, incoming travellers from Portugal must quarantine in a government approved hotel for 10 days – which they have to pay for – and produce two negative Covid tests. The cost is £1,750.
Travellers who fail to quarantine in a government hotel can be fined up to £10,000. The move has received harsh backlash, particularly with the countries assigned to the red list. Red listed countries are predominantly in the global South. However, it was argued the new policy move was put in place as an attempt to reduce the spread of deadly variants of the coronavirus.
Ana and Júlia did not receive the news well. They were forced to spend Christmas in the UK, away from their families. Júlia expressed sadness, with this being “the longest time I have been away from my family”. Unfortunately, this situation was beyond her control. For all three, summer is looking a lot more expensive than normal, having to factor in the costs of a quarantine hotel in their overall costs of returning home. To add to this, it is currently difficult to find direct flights, or cheap flights for that matter, to your country to avoid further exposure to the virus. Students are forced to gamble their health and their wallet when making the decision to head back home.
However, the girls are determined to see their summer plans through. Ana has secured a position working with Camp America in the US where, due to Covid restrictions, she’ll be “assigned a small group and will stay with this group throughout”. Ines plans to return to Portugal and make the most time with her family before heading back to London for her Masters. But Julia is one of the students left debating whether the cost of travel is worth it.
What is clear is that these students’ university career has been plagued with one surprise after the other. From Brexit to Covid-19, one thing is clear – plans can no longer be ‘set in stone’ and students are learning to expect the unexpected and adapt to it. This year has tested our endurance and mental health, and cemented the uncertainty that our future holds. But, at the very least, we can say we have come out of it more resilient than ever.