A student from Nigeria, Adedeji Sunday Akintayo, has been protesting in front of Polonia University in the Polish town of Częstochowa.
He demands that the University refund him 6,650 euros - a tuition fee he paid for a Master's programme that he has never started.
"I am protesting because Polonia University owes me 6,550 euro. I applied for studies here. I was offered a place. Then I had to get a visa. But I did not get one in spite of
applying twice. This is why my contract [with the University] is not valid. I want to get this money back," the student told reporters from a Polish news channel TVN 24.
Adedeji set up a tent near the premises of the Polonia University on Wednesday, January 29.
The residents of the town supported the student by giving him hot drinks and even some money. His friends got a portable radiator for him to keep warm in the cold weather.
According to the student, he and his lawyer have been trying in vain to get a refund since September. But the University keeps saying that there's no ground for them to pay the money back.
"Adedeji Sunday Akintayo is a student of the Polonia University since July 2013. He signed a contract with the University, payed tuition fee for two years study - as the Polish law requires foreigners to do if they want to study here," said the University representative, Jerzy Nitkiewicz. "For reasons unknown to us, the student did not commence the studies," he added.
On Friday, Charles, a student from Ghana with similar problems with Polonia University, joined the Nigerian. When the two entered the building of the university, someone called the police. However, the officers did not apply any sanctions to the men.
What makes the issue especially urgent for Adedeji is that he has been accepted to a university in neighbouring Lithuania. But he says he has no money neither for studies nor for food or shelter there. This is why the Nigerian is very determined to get the repayment.
On a Facebook page that he started just to provide a coverage of his protest, Adedeji said he was going to the capital city, Warsaw, on Monday, where he wants to meet with the Nigerian ambassador as well as visit the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
"Protest day 6: The protest continue and I will not stop until the University deem it fit to correct their wrong doings against me. If the school give my money back, I will stop immediately. On Wednesday, we going to have a huge protest too," he wrote yesterday.
Dziennik Zachodni reports that John Godson, a member of the Polish parliament from Nigeria, has sent a letter to the President of the Polonia University in which he asked him to resolve the issue through conciliation. Should the reply be negative, Godson said he would refer the issue to the Attorney General as he thinks that the University might have defrauded Adedeji.
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