Pathways for Gaza Students
Gaza has roughly 90,000 university students. Twelve universities have been destroyed and most schools damaged, and students accepted abroad have waited two to three years for a crossing to open. This is the honest picture of what helps most right now, for students deciding where to spend scarce energy, and for universities, donors, and allies asking how to help.
The biggest gap, and it just got wider. Italy's IUPALS was the proven model — a full undergraduate scholarship tied to a real evacuation corridor that moved 229+ students out — and no new edition is expected for 2026/27. Almost everything else that is funded is master's-level or assumes you are already abroad. Goldsmiths and Glasgow are among the very few UK awards open to undergraduates still living in Palestine. This is the single most useful thing a university can create right now.
IUPALS (crui.it) →Distance learning at Gaza's own universities through ISNAD, plus free online degrees (University of the People), and offline materials for low connectivity.
ISNAD · UoPeople →eSIMs, internet, electricity, laptops, and solar coworking space.
Connecting Humanity · Gaza Sky Geeks →Free mentors rebuild files and request fee and English-test waivers.
SFG · GSSN · We Are Not Numbers →A named human, university office, or ministry that moves a name onto a coordination list, and crossings that stay open.
Mentor and sanctuary networks →Freelance work that helps a family hold on through years of waiting.
Work & income →Create foundation and sanctuary seats that do not require prior UK/EU residence; build visiting-student schemes so displaced students can finish their degrees (the Leicester model); once you admit a Gaza student, actively advocate for safe passage; waive application and English-test fees; accept documents flexibly; and fund the living-cost gap a full-tuition award leaves.
Leicester Sanctuary Seekers' Unit →Fund a semester of a Gaza student's studies through ISNAD (about £400 / US $535); donate eSIMs through Connecting Humanity; cover a student's test and application fees through Scholarships for Ghazza; help close the roughly $30,000 living-cost gap; and amplify.
ISNAD (Taawon) →Make a warm introduction to a sanctuary coordinator or mentor organization (worth more than a cold application), share this page, and never pay anyone claiming to sell a spot on an evacuation list.
You can help with time, attention or introductions. Ask what the student wants, and confirm current opportunities and any fees with the organization.
Your network is worth more than a cold form. Introduce a student, or a mentor organization, to a university sanctuary office, a scholarship program, a professor running a Gaza initiative, or anyone who can move a file forward.
Give an hour: review a personal statement, run a mock interview, practice English, or guide an application. Do it through organizations that vet and match mentors, so students stay safe. Please do not direct-message students you don't know; go through these:
Share a student's story or campaign only with their permission for that audience. To mentor, use the organizations' current volunteer process rather than messaging unknown students directly. To donate, check the named organization or the student-approved campaign and what the funds will support.
The safest, highest-impact giving goes directly through established organizations, never to an individual promising evacuation. ISNAD (Taawon) funds students at Gaza's own universities; Scholarships for Ghazza covers students' test and application fees.