CYPRUS: Students duped by \’good life\’ in the north

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Foreign students going to study in the north of Cyprus find themselves in dire straits as promises of “a piece of paradise” with EU studying and working conditions made by agents are proven to be far from the truth.


Several foreign students have found themselves cash-strapped making them easy prey to exploitation, while others have found themselves in tight spots as the healthcare system in the north does not provide full medical care.

An International student organization is campaigning to raise money for a Nigerian student who has been diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure and is not covered by the student medical insurance scheme.

Nigerian Michael Mohammed Saliu, 33, currently undergoes dialysis treatment three times a week at a Famagusta hospital in the north.

“The cost of the weekly dialysis treatment is 750TL (125) and is paid with money collected in solidarity for Michael by friends and nurses at the hospital where he receives treatment,” said a representative of the Voice for International Students (VOIS) organisation.

Michael came to the island in hope of studying Electrical Engineering in 2015 with promises of being able to study and work to support his family back home. However, just after three terms, he could no longer afford to pay his school fees, despite promises that he would be able to earn enough.

“As a result, he had to drop out of school. The same period he started experiencing health problems, visiting the hospital a couple of times during the period 2016-2018. Then in October 2018, he was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure,” said VOIS representative Emmanuel Achiri  .

He said the health system doesn’t cover Michael not because he is no longer registered with a university, but because students’ insurance policy does not cover chronic diseases. He needs around $10,000 for a transplant.

“This is why we started a GofundMe campaign and calling everyone who can to contribute to it. We plan to collect money for him to undergo an operation if a compatible donor is found.”

Dialysis is the process of removing excess water, solutes, and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys can no longer perform these functions naturally.  The dialysis treatment is the only thing keeping Michael alive. However, he cannot afford the weekly treatments which his life so depends on.

Michael’s father is a retired military man in Nigeria, and his mother teaches in a primary school, also approaching retirement age. “His parents are poor and cannot afford the money to pay for his weekly treatments. So far, his friends and nurses have been paying for his treatment,” said Achiri.

VOIS has contacted Turkish Cypriot health officials who promised to look into the case and provide assistance.

“We were told that as a rule, students are not covered for chronic diseases such as cancer and kidney failure as the premium is too low. The ministry said that if Michael registers or is given a scholarship for another semester by the end of March, they will try and arrange a discount for him.”

Achiri said that international students coming to the north of Cyprus are not given enough information and find themselves “in limbo when they get sick as they do not know what their insurance actually covers”.

Mustafa Hasguler, deputy head of the Turkish Cypriot higher education planning body, confirmed that information given to international students is cloudy.

“We need to ensure that agencies give clear information to students about conditions on the ground,” he told Turkish Cypriot newspaper Cyprus Today.

Victim of misinformation

A former student who fell victim to misinformation regarding living conditions in the north said that she was told by a relative acting as a go-between for an agency that she could study for only €1,300 a year as well as find a job to help her family back home.

When she arrived, the meagre savings she had, which she thought would pay for the full amount of her fees, only covered the first instalment.

Wanting to remain anonymous, the former student from Nigeria said that she was one of the lucky ones as she was fortunate enough to earn scholarships which basically allowed her to complete her studies. “When agencies approached me about universities in northern Cyprus, they presented a magical place with living conditions similar to those of Europe or big Turkish cities,” she said.

However, they withheld the truth about jobs and issues like health insurance. Furthermore, as she added, rents are high with landlords demanding a year’s worth of rents up front.

“And according to the colour of their skin, international students’ experience when it comes to renting a place to stay varies…”

“In any case without help from home or a scholarship it is very difficult for an international student to study and rent a place to live.”

She added that this is the case for the majority of students. She told the Financial Mirror that most landlords are reluctant to rent out their properties to students from Africa, especially Nigeria.

As a result, most students end up taking extremely badly paid jobs in hotels and electronic department stores, with the majority still not able to make ends meet.

This makes these students vulnerable to all sorts of exploitation, from them being used as cheap labour to being prostituted on the streets. She said most employers do not draw up a written agreement with the students, allowing them to exploit them as they please.

“If you can’t pay your tuition, your rent, your electricity bill you are vulnerable to all sorts of exploitation. Some girls even decide to walk the streets on their own as a last resort.”

The former student said that they also had to deal with discrimination from the authorities who did not take any report of exploitation by African students seriously. “When nobody listens to you, you start accepting the situation as it is, and you stop fighting back”.

She said that because some young girls took to prostitution as a last resort, “there is a generalisation in the society in the north that black girls, especially Nigerian are ‘easy’… this has opened the gateway for sexual harassment of young students who may just be walking home or to their school”.

She knows a number of cases where girls were harassed by drivers who stop and ask girls for sexual favours. “Students cannot afford taxis and rely on the public transport system which does not run during the night, with girls having to walk long distances at night” she added.

The former student said that universities in the north, due to the political situation prevailing in Cyprus are only accredited by Turkey.

“This means that our university degrees are accredited by Turkey before we can use them to find jobs. The problem is that not all universities in the north are accredited by Turkey, with agents withholding this critical information from students,” said the activist.

Despite problems faced, the student activist, who is now furthering her studies at a university in another EU member state, said that while campaigning for the rights of international students in the north, they had the support of a number of local organisations and individuals.

“Although they are few in number, they have provided significant support to us, helping to draw the attention of the authorities and of international media.”

The activist called on the universities to act as the middleman between the international students and society in an effort to do away with discrimination and exploitation of students who come to study, while also contributing to the local society and economy.

According to the latest published figures from Turkish Cypriot education authorities, there are some 90,000 foreign students in the 30 universities active in the north.