STUDENT leaders from Ireland and Britain have condemned the "chaos" caused by Brexit.
The north's NUS-USI president Olivia Potter-Hughes held a meeting in London yesterday with NUS president Shakira Martin and USI president Michael Kerrigan.
The three issued a joint statement in which they claimed the future of opportunity "is fading away before our very eyes".
They said students were being caught unwillingly "in the chaos and uncertainty that has been imposed upon people in Northern Ireland because of Brexit, and a lack of planning by those espousing it".
"People don't know whether there will be a hard or soft border, and whether trade will stay the same or unwieldy customs checks and tariffs will damage business," the leaders said.
"Students and others are having a difficult enough time without education and research opportunities, as well as the job market and apprentice opportunities, potentially being decimated in Northern Ireland because of Brexit.
"We need to see government protecting people's rights, protecting cross-border and other student mobility and plugging the funding gap left by the likely loss of EU research funding."
The possible ramifications of Brexit on people's rights, their educational opportunities and on the economy in Northern Ireland are "truly frightening", they added.
"The student movement across the UK, Northern Ireland and Ireland is extremely concerned about the potentially devastating impact of Brexit upon international students, people from elsewhere who live in the UK, and upon citizens and protected groups’ rights enshrined within the Belfast Agreement.
"People in Northern Ireland, and for that matter around the UK, need and deserve guarantees about a common travel area on the island of Ireland and the right to remain in the UK."
