Yemeni students in UK: Victims of indifference [Archives:2005/907/Reportage]
December 29 2005
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Over the last 10 years or so, hundreds of Yemeni students have been given scholarships by the Yemeni government and were sent to study in the UK, both for undergraduate and postgraduate levels. During this period, the relation between students and the Yemen Embassy in London has been a weak and fragile one. This relation, unfortunately, is deteriorating steadily resulting in serious consequences that affect the ability of students to succeed in their studies – the ultimate purpose of them being sent abroad. While this problem was observed during my studies in the UK, similar problems may be found elsewhere, i.e. between Yemeni students and Yemen embassies in other countries.
Debate of responsibilities
Despite their efforts, the students have never received enough attention or help from the embassy. There has always been a tension between the two parties. The students see the embassy as the genuine representative of their government of which they expect to receive the necessary help and aid. Conversely, the embassy and its staff see the students as a “source of trouble and an additional burden distracting us from our official duties” as one of the embassy staff once told me. The students, in return, see no conflict between their demands and such duties.
Nevertheless, the relation sometimes gets better and sometimes gets worse depending mainly on the personal perception of the embassy's staff concerned. For example, in order to discuss their problems, especially those involving the embassy, students always demand general meetings with the embassy's staff to take place in regular bases. While such meetings have been taking place in the past, there were two main problems: the first was that such meetings were occasional; for example, the students would be invited whenever a new ambassador is appointed. The second problem was that the embassy would invite only students who are personally known to the staff organizing the meeting. Regarding the first problem, the students would have no similar chance to meet again, allowing them to follow up the results of previous meetings. As for the second problem, few students would attend such meetings, losing the opportunity to meet the wider circle of Yemeni students residing in the UK. The loss and the disappointment of the uninvited students are surely greater. The lack of a single representative body for the Yemeni students in UK has been a real challenge and indeed contributed, as indicated by the embassy, to the later problem. For although some attempts to create such as representing body, like that of the Yemeni Students Association in the UK (www.yemenistudents.org.uk), the project is struggling to stay a live due to lack of support and coordination. However, the students argue that the formation of such body is very difficult if the embassy does not play a role in gathering the students and coordinating between them. On the other hand, the embassy does not see this as “one of its official responsibilities”, as a senior staff of the embassy once stated. The debate is still going on
It all boils down to money
Most of the Yemeni students receive their allowance and tuition fees (if any) through the embassy. The embassy, thus, constitutes the one and only means for them to get their money. Many students claim that the embassy does not play an active role in solving, or even attempting to solve, their academic problems. These include the inability to find suitable institutes or universities and not receiving their scholarships and allowances fully or on time. While the former issue is usually solved by the students themselves, the latter issue is of a great importance since the scholarships and the allowances themselves do not meet the financial requirements of institutes and universities in the UK. The students receive approximately half of the required fees and about 70% of the accommodation fees. They have to find other sources to fund the rest of the fees, in addition to their pocket money and other academic expenses. While some students depend on their families for financial support, others have to fund themselves either by carrying out some part-time jobs or seeking support from other educational organizations. Knowing their conditions, some of the universities would adopt flexible arrangements with the students allowing them to complete their studies, as well as, to pay their fees in parts. While the embassy has nothing to do with such finical problems, the students claim that the embassy, being aware of these problems, could have played a positive role in convincing the government to support the students fully. Not only that, they even claim that the embassy sometimes delays the payment of their allowances, or tuition fees, with no understandable reasons. In fact, the embassy has been accused many times of investing this money in banks and using the interest for personal gains. This has been a continuous rumour but real evidence could not be shown. “No smoke without a fire,” the students would insist.
Beggars in the land of mist
It has happened in the past that the students would have to beg (I do really mean it) for their money. This took the form of having to continuously phoning or travelling to the embassy for several times in order to get their money, which could have easily been sent either by post or by bank transfer. It has also happened that some students, due to the irresponsibility of the embassy staff in charge, have been under tremendous pressure from their universities because of the negative letters sent by the embassy to their universities. In these letters, the embassy informed the universities of the inability of students to pay their fees fully. As a result, some students were threatened by their universities to suspend their studies. It is sad to note that the embassy was not obliged to send such letters at all. They were sent intentionally for personal purposes; an attitude which was seen by the students as blackmail. Students who did not get along with the embassy staff directors (mainly for their rightful demands) were subjected to intimidation and indifference. Unfortunately, their complaints to other staff and officials, including the ambassador, were usually ignored. The embassy usually states that the students' affairs are not their responsibility and that they are “merely acting as a postman delivering the fees to the students.” The students on the other hand started to see the embassy as a source of threat, added to their list of problems. “A hostile postman,” one of the students had told me once describing the embassy's claim.
Is sending students abroad costly?
The recent government vision in limiting the number of students being sent abroad is totally wrong and baseless. The government claims that the cost of sending young Yemenis abroad is too high and not worthy. This claim fails immediately if one is to compare it with other government unnecessary expenses, such as renewing officials' cars regularly and military spending. The status of the educational system and the level of high-education in Yemen today cannot, by all means, support the rapid advances in many fields of study, and therefore cannot be a real alternative. Moreover, the advantages of sending Yemeni Students abroad are far beyond achieving academic qualifications. Even if excellent universities exist in Yemen, sending students abroad should remain a strategy of the government if real constructive changes are being sought for the national development process. The students abroad learn and achieve many experiences outside their universities that are of a great benefit to the country.
It seems that the government's vision above is clearly influencing the Yemeni embassies abroad in dealing with Yemeni students. However, in our UK example, it has been suggested many times by the students that the government should send students abroad with full financial and academic support, even in the expense of reducing their number. Unlike what is happening now, the government also should send only talented students abroad regardless their families' names or positions.
Yet, there is hope
One must admit that that there were times when the embassy was aware of the problems facing the students and the arrangements they had to do with their universities. The embassy then acted responsibly and helped to ease the pressure on the students, many of whom have completed their studies and returned back home. However, there were also times when the students have greatly suffered not because of anything, but because of the ill treatment of their affairs by the embassy. In some cases, this had forced some students to terminate their studies and go back home. I have sadly witnessed some of these cases myself.
Nowadays, there are still many students who have to deal with the embassy in order to get their allowances, in addition to those who deal with the embassy for other reasons. Now that a new ambassador has been appointed to the UK, Mr. Mohamed Naser Mustafa, we hope that the embassy will call again for a meeting with the students, where their problems will be discussed and the embassy's previous performance in this regard will be evaluated. Most importantly, we hope that regular meetings of this form will take place in the future. The Yemeni students in the UK are expected to take the lead in putting efforts to participate in the future of Yemen. This vision should be realized both by the embassy as well as by the students.
* Dr. Hamdan Zaid Dammag is the Editorial Consultant of Yemen Times. He was one of the founders of the Yemeni Students Association in UK. He is a poet and short-story writer, with many literature publications, some of which have been published in English. He is also a research fellow at the Institute of Computing, London South Bank University, UK.
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