Students from NUI Galway who are on Erasmus exchange in Italy have been asked by the college to return to Ireland immediately, citing concerns over the rapid spread of coronavirus there, the Galway City Tribune has reported.
This week, the Italian government ordered schools and universities to close until mid-March after the number of cases of the virus rose to over 3,000.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, the university confirmed that it has asked ten students who are at universities in northern Italy to return home.
“The University is advising and emphasising the need for returning students to follow the latest health advice issued by the Health Service Executive and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in planning and undertaking their journey”, the statement said.
In an email to the students on exchange, the college said: “The University is asking each of you to leave the region in which you are located. It is our preference that you return to campus to complete the semester, however please let us know if you wish to discuss alternative arrangements.”
One student, who has just returned from the University of Genoa, told the Galway City Tribune: “We were getting emails about the virus and within days people were booking flights home. I was with a group of six other students from UCC and they all flew home immediately.”
Trinity has not ordered its students to return from Italy. In an email statement to The University Times yesterday, Thomas Deane, a media relations officer in Trinity, said: “Trinity is not requiring students on Erasmus placement to return to Ireland but we have written to each of them individually in the last week asking them to inform us of the arrangements their host universities have made to ensure the successful completion of their academic programme, and to share information of their plans.”
Deane said: “All of our partner universities have made arrangements for the remaining teaching/learning and assessment to be completed online. As a result some Trinity students have returned to Ireland or the UK or other home countries in Europe, but most have elected to remain in Italy.”
“Those electing to return have been advised to follow the HSE and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade guidelines on arrival.”
Some four of the seven new cases confirmed in Ireland yesterday were associated with travel from northern Italy, as was the first “cluster case” of two males and two females from the same family.
