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BBC highlights risks of studying in ‘universities’ of occupied Cyprus

13/02/2019 17:27

A BBB News report from occupied Nicosia highlights the risks that foreign students undertake when choosing to study at the pseudo-state’s ‘universities’.

Focusing on the story of a Nigerian woman in her twenties, the BBC reveals how many mainly African and Asian students “fall prey to loan sharks” in order to meet tuition fees and make ends meet.

The said student fell for a false prospect of getting a degree for just €1,300 for each year of studies and a job that would even allow her to send money back to her family in Nigeria. Not able to get a proper and sufficiently paid job, the Nigerian student can’t even afford a ticket back home, according to the report.

A Zimbabwean pastor tells the BBC that “when payback time comes, things ‘can get ugly... and police say they cannot intervene’.”

He says that female students have told him they have been forced to repay debts “with sexual favours”. He also claims that he once saved a woman from captivity, during which she was forced into prostitution.

The report states that there are some 120,000 students in the occupied north. Before 2011 there were only six ‘universities’ there, but by the end of 2019 they are expected to be five times as many.

It is also noted that a degree from these academic institutions may lack any international recognition.