GOVERNMENT plans to cut funding to universities if students claim asylum were condemned as “shameful” by campaigners today.

Universities will reportedly be barred from accepting foreign students if they fail to stop their courses from being used as a route for people to claim asylum in Britain.

As part of a crackdown, universities will face penalties if fewer than 95 per cent of international students start the courses for which they applied, or if fewer than 90 per cent finish them.

They will also be sanctioned if more than 5 per cent of student visa applications are refused.

Last year, 16,000 asylum claims were made by people who arrived on student visas.

The Home Office said most of these claims happen when students near their visa expiry date.

Universities UK said most institutions already go beyond the minimum Home Office checks and called on the government to provide better, up-to-date data to help them manage risks.

University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady said: “Attempting to turn universities into an extension of the border force is not only shameful, but doomed to fail.

“Admissions must focus on academic ability, not whether an incoming student may need to seek asylum.

“This policy could have perverse consequences, such as forcing a university to bar students from war-torn countries like Palestine or Ukraine because they may not be able to safely return home.”

Labour must “stop sacrificing our universities on the altar of its hopeless attempts to outflank Reform on immigration and start backing the sector,” she said.

Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants interim executive director Rose Bernstein said: “The real issue isn’t whether someone arrives on a student visa or not — it’s that the asylum system is so hostile and inaccessible, people are forced to find any route they can.

“People at risk of harm have to make incredibly difficult decisions, leaving behind their entire lives in search of safety.

“The UK needs to recognise the universal right to claim asylum. Without that, this government is criminalising people not for breaking the rules, but for trying to stay alive.”

Migrants Rights Network CEO Fizza Qureshi said that “clamping down” on the ability of international students to claim asylum shows “a complete misunderstanding of how they can end up needing to seek safety.”

She said: “[Many] people in our network either claimed asylum through the international student route because there was no other option to do so, or the situation in their country of origin changed, thereby making it impossible to return.”

“They were recognised as needing safety and were granted refugee status.

“This cannot be addressed through more restrictive immigration or enforcement measures but rather through providing safe alternatives for all nationalities to claim asylum.”

A Migrant Voice spokesperson said that the reasons people seek asylum can be complex with circumstances liable to change.

They said: “To deny international students the ability to claim asylum ignores why people seek it in the first place.

“For some, it may be the case that while gaining an education in the UK, they become more in need of asylum, due to regime changes within their countries of origin.

“While this government talks about ‘smashing gangs’ [regarding] channel crossings, it seems focused on removing the ability for anyone to claim asylum, no matter how they initially arrived.”

Freedom from Torture head of asylum advocacy Sile Reynolds said: “When you are fleeing for your life, you take whatever route you can to get out.

“For some survivors of torture, securing a student visa to the UK means they have a safe and orderly escape route.

“It means they don’t have to risk their life crossing dangerous seas, or be subjected to violence, exploitation and abuse at the hands of smugglers or corrupt officials in transit countries.

“Many hope to return in safety once their student visa expires but find that the situation hasn’t improved and they now need to seek asylum in the UK, so they don’t have to go back to the hands of their torturers.

“Behind every statistic is a person who’s been forced to make life and death decisions with a set of safe options that get smaller by the day.”

Ms Reynolds said that the government’s “determination to shut down one of the last remaining safe routes” to seek asylum in Britain contradicts the PM’s “commitment to uphold this country as a place of sanctuary.”

“If they really care about preventing deaths in the Channel, they must stop this relentless targeting of asylum seekers and expand safe routes to protection in the UK,” she said.