UK Universities are failing International Students – and I’m angry about it.
It’s been SEVEN years since I graduated, and guess what?
Virtually nothing has changed.
I was an international student at the The University of Edinburgh (2013-2017).
During my time there:
→ The Graduate Visa didn’t exist, and I had zero clarity on how to get sponsored for a job.
→ The University of Edinburgh Careers Service gave me no useful feedback or insights.
→ Their Career Services fair didn’t feature a single company focused on helping international students secure visa-sponsored roles.
Many members of migreats join us as recent graduates from top UK universities, and they share the same frustrations I had.
𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝.
Now, before anyone comments: "𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡!"
Here’s what’s you should know:
“Educational consultants” target international students from countries like 🇮🇳 India, 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, and 🇳🇬 Nigeria with misleading promises such as:
"𝑇𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 £25,000 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 M𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟’𝑠, 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑠𝑎, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑗𝑜𝑏!"
Why?
Because UK universities see international students as 💰
And then "career coaches who say they're not career coaches" with accelerators that cost ££££s (despite having EU settlement status so no real experience of the struggle) - tell international talent to "work for free" or "never mention VISA sponsorship" 🙂
Cycle of exploitation continues.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.
But the real issue they should be addressing is the 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 Career Services programs.
These services should be integrated into the high cost of tuition, not treated as an afterthought.
migreats 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭.
These support systems should be part of the university experience.
But the system is so, so broken.
That’s why at migreats, we’re stepping in to fix it.
𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 or TAG your University Careers Service in the comments below 👇🏼
Let’s get it in front of those who work in Career Services. Lets finally inspire some change.
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At migreats, we offer a genuine community, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 help, resources, and a job board we have built ourselves with over 14,000+ sponsored roles.
Let’s make migreats accessible to all and demand better support for international students.