Government creates £2m fund for London Met students The academic, who is also vice-chancellor of Bristol University, said: "Around 3,000 students, of whom the overwhelming majority were bona fide students, found themselves in a foreign country far from home without a course. I have had no rational explanation of how that fulfilled our duties to them as human beings never mind as students. Everyone involved in this needs to remind themselves that families have paid for these courses and that, for these students, this is one of their major lifetime chances. Let's all ponder on how we would have reacted if that had happened to our sons and daughters in a foreign country. Why were their needs not given absolute primacy in all these considerations? I would argue that we all have been found wanting in our duties to these students. The UK Border Agency is to write at affected students at the start of October, telling them they have 60 days to find a new university course or face deportation. Mr Willetts said a clearing-style system would be established on Monday to help match students with spare courses at other universities. He added that the £2m fund would "help legitimate overseas students at London Met who face extra costs through no fault of their own as a result of transferring to another institution." "This will provide certainty to London Met students at what is a stressful and unsettling time," he said.