As an international student you turn up to university, you know nobody, and it's all very different. You do have some money on you but it may not be chafed into pounds and it certainly isn't that safe in you wallet or luggage. You also realise that your not one of the lucky few who have been given accommodation. So the first thing you want to do is find somewhere to live and then set up a bank account and store your money safely.
So off you toddle to an estate agent and you find a house that at least has walls and a ceiling, even though the renting price is astronomical (although you may not be aware of this, as it is your first couple of days in the country). So you settle down to sort out the paperwork, and the estate agent are chucking additional costs for what they say is 'administration' and again your none the wiser if this is true. Then we get to a sticking point where they ask you for you bank details, so you explain that you have not set up a bank account yet and it's the next thing on your list of things to do. They say they can't set it up without one but will hold the house for you until you have set the account up, if you go and do it straight away.
You head to a bank and are told that firstly you will be charged for the privilege of using the facilities, but you realise it's still worth it for the peace of mind and of course you don't have much option you need somewhere to stay. So again you start the process but you get to a sticking point when your asked for your address! Once again your told it is not possible to continue the process without this point of information.
So to recap your in a country you don't know, with people you don't know, you can't get accommodation because you don't have a bank account and can't get a bank account as you don't have accommodation.
Can this really be fair to all the international students flocking to the UK for education and should things really not be better for them?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Brighton, UK
Thanks for highlighting this Ed, it's an often overlooked issue.
ReplyDeleteIt is deeply unfair, and endemic of the way students in general are treated. International students are the most vulnerable of an already vulnerable group of people. Students are exploited by letting agents and banks precisely because they have no other option but to use the letting agents and banks. As you've pointed out, for foreign students this vulnerability is even more pronounced, and consequently more money can be squeezed out of them.
The question is, what can we do about it? It seems like two things need to happen. First, the Students' Union should campaign against the exploitation of foreign students. Waiting for foreign students to come to the Union may not be enough: the tragic element of the situation is that these people are also so often the most voiceless, feel least able to speak and raise issues with the Union. The Students' Union needs to pre-empt these issues.
Second, and more importantly, foreign students themselves (whether under the auspices of the International Students Rep or not) need to organise collectively to resist this exploitation. As an individual we are (mostly) powerless in the face of letting agents and banks. If we come together and refuse to be exploited things will change. Anything the Union can do to help this would be valuable.
Hi drifting wanderer, really great to have your input and I think your right, it is important to have a collective voice for all students. I'm going to start looking into the different banks and see what they can offer to try and help this, starting with Santander as they were the only bank at the international freshers fair this year.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's really important to look into collective voice more closely and in fact contacting Christina Yan Zhang, the international officer from NUS will also be a key point in this campaign, as a collective national voice is important, especially in a situation like this as there is a limit to what multinational banks can do in branch and it is with a national voice we should hold banks to account.
It's a similar thing with letting agents and the fact that there is not a national regulatory body for land lords is an oversight and something I think the welfare zone of NUS should be making a priority, and will be passing this on to pete mercer the welfare officer for NUS.
on a more pedantic note...you might want to look at the title on this post, unless you really did mean 'intentional students?' ;-}
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