Visa chaos for 4,500 British students due to study in Spain within weeks: UK universities write to Spanish embassy to let youngsters begin year aboard as tourists due to application delays
- Some students have waited more than a month for an appointment for their visas
- They fear they may miss the start of term due to the changes to studying abroad
- Meanwhile academics said masks and a phased return may avoid 'chaotic' term
- Institutions should take number of steps to make the autumn term as Covid-safe
British students due to study in Spain within weeks are facing visa chaos as universities plead with the Spanish embassy to let the youngsters in.
Some undergraduates have waited more than a month for an appointment for their documents to get into the country.
They fear they may miss the start of term due to the changes to studying abroad brought in after Brexit.
Meanwhile university academics said masks in lecture halls, a phased return of students and better ventilation across campuses can help avoid a 'chaotic' return.
Institutions should take a number of steps to make the autumn term as Covid-safe as possible, including increasing vaccine uptake by offering jabs on site, they said.
Some undergraduates (pictured, Ella Perret from Cardiff University) have waited more than a month for an appointment for their documents to get into the country
Ella Perret who is expecting to go to the capital Madrid (pictured, the university there) next week as part of her law degree through Cardiff University
Universities UK wrote to the Spanish embassy and the Foreign Office urging them to let students complete their application when they arrive.
Director of Universities UK International Vivienne Stern told Today: 'We started getting these messages a few weeks ago and they're getting increasing desperate.
'And I think there are lots of students and their parents who are increasingly anxious and we're starting to hear students are cancelling their plans to study abroad.'
The government said it was a matter for authorities in Spain but added it had approached them on the subject.
More British students - 4,500 - are now travelling to the country for a year abroad during their degrees than the usually popular choice France.
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Among them is Ella Perret who is expecting to go to the capital Madrid next week as part of her law degree through Cardiff University.
She told the BBC: 'I haven't booked a flight or accommodation because I don't know if I'm going.'
She applied for her visa in June because the documents need to be issued within 90 days of her leaving.
She also needed a medical certificate, proof of income, a criminal-record check and proof of acceptance at a Spanish university.
The items are then translated and legally processed through a Hague apostille so they can be used abroad.
Ms Perret claimed the task costs hundreds of pounds yet she does not feel closer to getting to Spain.
Director of Universities UK International Vivienne Stern (pictured) told Today: 'We started getting these messages a few weeks ago and they're getting increasing desperate'
It comes as academics warned universities should take a number of steps to make the autumn term as Covid-safe as possible, including increasing vaccine uptake.
Their 'five key considerations' for universities welcoming students back also include good contact tracing alongside effective on-campus testing, isolation, and support, which they said is 'key to minimising any impacts of transmission on and beyond campuses'.
The joint opinion piece, published in The BMJ, is by Simon Williams, senior lecturer in people and organisation at the school of management at Swansea University in Wales, and Gavin Yamey, professor of global health and public policy at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
They warn of the risk to students of getting ill with the virus and developing long Covid, as well as the danger of infected students passing the disease on to vulnerable adults on campus, including teachers and university maintenance and service staff.
The pair also say campus outbreaks can drive infection in the communities around the university.
They wrote: 'In the United Kingdom, like the US, chaotic re-openings (last year) sparked outbreaks that plunged 'entire flats and halls of residence into lockdown'.'
The latest Government guidance is that students and staff should test twice each week using home test kits or at an on-site testing facility until the end of September.
The approach after that time will be reviewed 'in response to the latest public health advice'.
The Department for Education is also encouraging universities to look at how to increase jab uptake, although there are no plans to introduce so-called vaccine passports for students to attend.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: 'Universities are preparing for the coming academic year to ensure that students can return safely.
'In line with all other settings, higher education providers should continue to conduct risk assessments for their particular circumstances, in line with the latest Government guidance.'
The academics wrote that a phased return could 'avoid a mass migration of all their students over a matter of weeks', and encouraged investment in adequate ventilation across campuses, including in classrooms and accommodation, which they said would bring a longer-term benefit against Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases.
They added masks still have a role to play in certain circumstances, including where social distancing is not possible such as in large group classrooms, where they say face coverings 'should be required as a precautionary measure for the initial phase after reopening'.
