As some of you may have seen on the news last month, the University paid £12,000 in compensation to a student with cancer, Riham Sheble, a postgraduate international student in the Film & TV department, after initially rejecting her request for an extension in April 2022. This article has been written to draw attention to her case, and the victory that was won through the #LetRihamStay campaign, which supported Riham and her demands for change following her experiences. If it had not been overturned, the decision to reject Riham’s extension request would have led to her being removed from her course. This would have compromised her student visa and her access to life-saving medical treatment in the UK, forcing her to return to Egypt where the urgent and specialised care she needed was simply inaccessible. Tragically, this statement is also a form of commemoration for Riham, following her tragic passing on 12th March following her battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. 

The #LetRihamStay campaign was a coalition supporting Riham made up of members of Warwick UCU, Unis Resist Border Controls, the VP Welfare & Campaigns and VP Postgraduate. Members of the campaign worked collaboratively to pressure the University to reverse its decision by liaising with external groups and individuals to advocate on behalf of Riham. After the reversal of the decision following the intervention of her oncologist and MP, Riham wished to use her case to highlight the struggles faced by many international students, and push for changes to University processes in order to ensure that nobody had to face the issues that she did. 

The campaign launched with this open letter signed by over 600 students, staff, activists and ordinary people from across the University and wider country. It outlined the injustice of denying Riham an extension on her studies based on her poor health - a denial for which there was no right to appeal - and highlighting the struggles that many international students across the country share with Riham. International students often pay far higher tuition fees than home students, along with hundreds of pounds of extra costs in terms of visa applications and the international health surcharge. Moreover, recent research by UCU Postgraduates showed that many international PGR students face difficulties in having their disability-related needs met. 

The letter launched the campaign’s central demands to the University, which included the following requests to:

• Review the university’s procedures for mitigating circumstances when it comes to international students who find themselves dealing with urgent and critical health matters that require care in the UK and time off from their studies
• Provide support for international students with disabilities that is equal to the support provided to home students
• Contact the Home Office to encourage it to grant Riham’s mother a visitor’s visa to be with her

Furthermore, it emphasised the fact that the hostile environment - the set of measure designed by the Home Office to make life in the UK so difficult for irregular migrants that they voluntarily leave - has no place in our education system. 

Following the open letter, social media actions, awareness-raising events, the raising of the issue through various University committees and meetings, the decision was made to put in a complaint to the University based on their treatment of Riham. Following the receipt of an unsatisfactory outcome to the stage 2 complaint - which admitted that the 5 year time-limit faced by UG International students was wrongly applied to Riham as a PG student (as they do not face limits) a decision was made to file a stage 3 complaint to the University. Following this, the University responded, offering £12,000 in compensation for Riham, on top of the apology and recommendation to review and update student disability training for staff that were already offered in the initial response. Consideration is also being given to ways that access to hardship funding can be improved for international students with disabilities. 

On a personal note, we would like to pay tribute to Riham. She was kind, thoughtful, passionate, and extremely funny. We are grateful to have spent time with her on the weekend before her passing, tell her that we loved her & hear her rail against the offensiveness of baked beans and the blandness of British food. Riham was also a scholar-activist, interested in human rights and feminist struggles, particularly in Egypt, where she was involved in campaigns to end FGM. 

Her energy was infectious, and through the #LetRihamStay campaign, she filled so many people with the motivation and desire to end the hostile environment and its manifestation in universities. We note that a motion has passed - with 700 votes in favour - explicitly referring to Riham’s case, emphasising opposition to the University’s perceived overcompliance with Home Office regulations and urging us to push for greater support for international students from the University. This speaks to Riham’s impact. She made it incredibly clear to us that after she died, she wanted us to continue to politicise her battle against the University and Home Office to encourage more people to campaign against the unjust treatment of international students and migrants more broadly.

If you are facing any issues similar to Riham, don't hesitate to get in touch with us or our Advice Centre. The Advice Centre staff offer free, impartial and confidential advice and support for students, and gave crucial assistance to Riham prior to the start of the campaign, particularly through their advice to her that she should apply for a discretionary visa in case the decision was not reversed. You can submit an enquiry here. We deeply mourn her loss, but we are committed to continuing to push back against the hostile environment in her name, and an education system which is accessible to all people, no matter their background, and treats everyone with care and respect. If you are interested in getting involved in campaigning against the hostile environment, please get in touch and keep an eye out for more details on how you can get involved. 

Tomi and Hamza
(VP Welfare & Campaigns and VP Postgraduate)