Voting as an International Student in the UK elections

The topic that pervades everyone's minds as of right now is the forthcoming UK elections, and despite the fact that I'm "just" an international student, I'm going to vote. And no, not just because it's the "hot topic" as of now, or because of the hype, or because I'm brown-nosing, but because I genuinely want to make a difference. For someone who just turned of voting age, it's pretty darn exciting to be invited to have my say in the policy-making, and in the governance of the city I'd be living in for the next year.

Inevitably, there are difficulties in trying to know more about the political parties because I have no context to go by, being from a different country and culture. There are the advantages of having a fresh perspective because you are seeing the parties as they are rather than with the preconceived notions inherited from peers and parents, nonetheless there are still a lot of obstacles to overcome to form an accurate, objective opinion of the parties. For one, there is the media portrayal of the parties, a lot of which are exaggerated, brushstroke-like impressions that really taint a person's view of the parties, and distract someone from constructing an unbiased assessment of the party's candidates and their policies. Some of the generalisations are eagerly gobbled up by students (especially international ones, coming from an entirely different political background) simply because it's much more convenient to form simplistic views based on cheesy pictures with one-liners rather than actually doing research. The social media onslaught of memes, while funny, don't really give people much on which to build their opinions of their parties, and could potentially lead to false representations of the parties.

There is a double remove in being an international student with voting rights. Candidates tend to disregard the student population in the cities, and then there is the fact that you're an international. No one really pays attention to what you want, or what you need, or to what policies might help you. In Durham for instance, almost all the manifestos of the candidates contain proposals to clear the accommodation spaces in the city centre of students. Being international is doubly hard as immigration laws look to be on the clampdown, and education policies overlook international students. While there are proposals from Labour to cut home student fees to £6000 per annum, international student fees remain steadily on the rise, with an average increase of 4.8% from 2013-2014 according to a survey by Times Higher Education. Time and again, the internationals students are being sidelined by policy-makers even though each student pays £14, 000 to £20, 000 a year for tuition fees alone. The possibility that these students may start and build their lives here and that they may have something to add and contribute to the UK, is neglected. Perhaps this is because of the mindset that we're "outsiders"; this sentiment is in part formed through our own fault, but I also think it's partly because as people label us so, we start to think of ourselves as such and act accordingly.

While there are those who do not want to vote - and I respect and understand their decision not to - I'll be casting my ballot in the elections, because although I'll be graduating next year, whatever happens in the general elections will impact the people in this county, the country, and the international students streaming into Durham as well. What's more, the world is getting to be so globalised now, it's fallacy to think that another country's election happens in isolation, and that it wouldn't affect people on the other end of the planet. Immigration laws, education policies, foreign relations, they will all have repercussions on not just me, but everyone. For every action, there is a reaction, and as worn-out as this adage is, every vote certainly counts.