Overseas varsity students torn over resuming courses

Fearful of returning to varsities overseas due to rising number of Covid cases

PETALING JAYA: To go or not to go – that is the dilemma Malaysian students are facing on whether to travel overseas to continue their university studies.

This comes after countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom are allowing international students to return if they wish to continue their education.

Bachelor of Liberal Arts with Employment

Experience Abroad student Sujitha Sridharan, who recently flew back to the United Kingdom, said her parents were worried and tried to convince her from going as they were afraid of the rising number of Covid-19 infections there.

“My parents wanted me to wait until January. However, my varsity is starting oncampus classes again and for me to fully grasp what will be taught in the upcoming semester, I needed to head back there,” she told theSun.

Sujitha said her first term exams are in January and it would make life easier to gather resources and study materials if she were there in person.

She agreed that despite the rising number of Covid-19 infections in the United Kingdom, she was excited to head back to campus.

However, Shiv Eswar Anantha Raja, a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery student, said he does not plan to go back to India to continue his studies as his university and his entire batch have collectively decided on finishing their degree in Malaysia through online classes.

“The number of positive cases in India has continued to rise and I do not think it would be wise for me to go back.”

He said that he knew a few friends who are studying in the United Kingdom who have gone back to continue their studies despite the increase in cases. However, his friends studying in the United States and India have decided not to go back due to the severity of the pandemic in both these countries.

“I was happy when I found out that we could go back to our campuses. However, doing my clinical phase meant a higher exposure to the virus and the possibility of contracting the disease. The best we can do at the moment is rely on web-based classes,” Shiv added.

Bachelor of Applied Technology (Automotive Engineering) student Kendrick James shared similar views as Shiv and said his mother was worried when he told her that New Zealand was opening its doors to international students again.

“I was not happy and neither was my mother as we know how severe the pandemic is,” he said.

Bachelor of Arts in Documentary Studies and Production student Puteri Zalehah said she was not comfortable with the idea of going back to the United States but had no choice.

“I did not like the idea of heading to a country with a huge number of positive cases. However, my course requires me to work on site for certain assignments.”

Puteri said she was surprised to hear about the opening of borders to international students since the United States has the highest number of Covid-19 cases worldwide.