International Students Scarce on Campus During COVID
posted by Shania Ingram | September 11, 2020 | In NewsContrary to popular belief, college is not just about getting a degree. It’s literally a training ground. Apart from attending classes, meeting deadlines and getting good grades, there are countless opportunities to make connections with people from all walks of life.
Fayetteville State University has been committed to the task of providing students with resources and tools necessary for them to excel beyond the walls of the classroom. One such opportunity is made possible through the Global Undergrad Exchange Program (UGRAD). In this program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the World Learning Organization, foreign students from underrepresented and non-elite backgrounds are drafted from specific non-English speaking countries in South America, Asia and Africa and placed at host institutions across the United States. The goal of this initiative is to provide applicants with in-depth exposure to U.S. society, culture and academic institutions, as well as opportunities to enhance their professional skills. Students are given one semester of full-time undergrad study after which they would return to their countries.
Here at Fayetteville State University, the Department of International Studies and Honors society has been partnering with the UGRAD program to host international students. In January 2020, FSU was graced with the presence of three students: one each from the countries of Honduras, Kenya and the Philippines. While taking full-time classes, they blended in with other students and became acquainted with American culture, all while sharing their own native cultures through daily interaction.
This was a great experience not only for international students, but for the locals also, as the university thrives to create an atmosphere of cultural diversity and inclusion.
But then, the spring semester was disrupted by the to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the whole experience to an abrupt end and sending these students home on the next earliest flight. As things worsened in the United States throughout the summer and into the fall, host institutions were notified that the UGRAD program will not be sending students to the U.S. for remainder of this year.
FSU’s international student and study abroad advisor Ms. Deborah Vasquez said: “It is unfortunate that there won’t be any UGRADERS for this semester, but for January spring 2021 we are expecting a couple of transfer students. One is coming from Methodist University to start a new program and another is coming from Fayetteville Tech. So, it does help to be expecting these students.”
Outside of the UGRAD program, FSU was unable to send its students to other countries on its study abroad program, neither could they facilitate first-time international freshman wanting to pursue a four-year degree starting this fall.
The most fortunate group of international students at FSU to date are those who were enrolled into four-year degree programs way before the onset of the pandemic. These are student-athletes from Jamaica, Kenya and Canada who are studying on F1 student visas. During the summer, the Trump administration had warned that all international students whose colleges were to administer strictly online course for this fall semester, were to return to their countries.
“That sent every U.S. university in a frenzy,” Vasquez said. “However, so many of the larger schools, such as UCLA and Harvard, complained and petitioned on behalf of all colleges stating how vital international students are to the academic programs in U.S. colleges and how disadvantageous it would be to send them home at their own expense”
Eventually, the Trump administration did decide to repeal its new regulations, ushering in a sigh of relief for FSU’s international students wanting to remain in the country and complete their degrees.
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