We,
the undersigned, believe that international students are valuable members of
student, local and national communities, and should be treated as such. We call
upon the Principal of the University of Aberdeen, Ian Diamond, and the
university management to do the following:
1.1 To continue to actively and firmly resist
any political manipulation of international students. We note the disturbing recent events at the
London Metropolitan, Glasgow Caledonian, and Teesside Universities
concerning international student recruitment, sponsorship, and visas. We
call for condemnation of all hostile UK Border Agency actions against
international students, and of all surveillance against international students.
We expect the University of Aberdeen to fight for transparent information
regarding the misuse of student visas, in order to dispel antagonistic
ambiguities surrounding the issue.
1.2 We note that
confusion over monitoring practices and surveillance is placing undue stress
on both staff and students. We call upon the University to clarify how they are
introducing and implementing required surveillance practices. At the same time,
we call on the University to collaborate with other Tertiary Education
institutions to actively lobby for the abolition of such
discriminatory practices. Further, we demand that the University should
investigate how to resist government requests for information, alongside other
Tertiary Education institutions as a bloc.
2.1 To resist economic exploitation of
international students. We call for tenure
caps on international student fees. We note that non-EU student fees are disproportionately high and increase
without justification every year, during the course of a student’s degree. This
creates unnecessary stress and makes future planning impossible. Fees should be
fixed at a flat rate for the duration of each student’s degree.
2.2 Until such time, we call for transparency and full information on fee changes in advance. We demand
full justification for any future increase, including an account of why any increase is unavoidable. The
University should provide a full account of how student fees are spent on
provision of direct education services and student facilities. We reasonably expect explicit and advance information on any
fee increases. We note that the increase in fees was sprung on students this
year without any prior personal communication.
We believe that it
is in the University's interest, toward its reputation as a warmly welcoming
institution for international students, to support this petition.