UG wants exchange programmes to continue
On Tuesday, the board of directors informed all faculties that, where possible, all exchange programmes will continue. ‘That doesn’t mean that every single student can go on their planned exchange’, the board writes in a response to UKrant. ‘But it’s important to make use of the opportunities as much as possible.’
Wait and see
The UG board may be keeping its options open, but it remains to be seen how many students even want to come or go on exchange. The travel advice issued by the Foreign Affairs minister is still at red or orange for most of the world.
While this will change for many countries on June 15, making travel possible again, another question is which countries will actually let in Dutch travellers. Several European universities announced over the past few weeks that all exchange programmes for the first semester will be cancelled, as have the universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht.
Guidelines
‘We need to do a lot more work to find out what programmes can continue and what needs to be cancelled’, the UG board writes. The board has therefore asked experts to rapidly come up with guidelines ‘that are flexible enough to do justice to the ever-changing situation’ that can be implemented across all faculties. It’s then up to the faculties and departments themselves to tell their students whether a planned exchange will take place.
Two weeks ago, overarching university organisation VSNU published an exchange guideline through the Erasmus+ programme. Among other things, this guideline states that universities themselves can decide whether or not to send students on exchange.
Students should however be informed in a timely manner, to allow them to find an alternative and to know whether or not to give up their room or quit their job.