URI students excited to partake in experiential learning.
Despite COVID-19 blocking most travel plans, there’s been a slight lift on restrictions, allowing some URI students off-campus study opportunities this fall. PHOTO CREDIT: Sophie Bacas
After 18 months of study abroad trips being cancelled, the University of Rhode Island has started to reopen programs for students with new protocols and regulations.
This semester, only 77 students are participating in off-campus study opportunities, which is much fewer than the usual 200 students the program has, according to the Assistant Director of the Education Abroad Program Thomas Hospod.
“We actually have students abroad right now, even if it’s in small numbers, but the process to get them there has been pretty rigorous,” Hospod said. “Overall, compared to a typical, traditional fall semester prior to COVID we’d have over 200 students [studying abroad], but we’re just really happy to maybe see some light at the end of the tunnel.”
According to Hospod, the program has seen a revived interest since some of the COVID-19 regulations have been lifted.
The main factor contributing to decreased travel during the pandemic has been the Department of State temporarily halting the production of passports during the pandemic. Currently, there is about a four-month delay in the production and distribution of passports, says Hospod.
There is also a disclaimer about this holdup on the Education Abroad page of the URI website explaining the setback.
This delay poses a possible issue for prospective study-abroad students who would need to obtain passports well in advance of their plans to travel abroad with any of the international study programs, says Hospod.
Hospod said that students who are looking to go abroad during the spring 2022 semester and do not currently have a valid passport should begin the process of obtaining one as soon as possible.
In addition to American travel restrictions, students have to abide by the regulations of their host countries. Some countries, such as Italy, require students to obtain a visa for study.
Many countries, however, have continued to suspend international student travel. For example, both Australia and China have completely restricted student travel for the foreseeable future. These countries have also implemented bans on general travel and tourism because of the pandemic.
The Chinese Flagship Program at URI is still working to get nine students to Taiwan this semester. The trip’s departure date is Sept. 24 — much later than previous years. According to Hospod, this is because the approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over administrators’ trip plan is needed before planning departure dates.
Only countries with a travel advisory level of one or two, which are ‘exercise normal precaution’ and ‘exercise increased caution,’ respectively, from the U.S Department of State are available for students to travel abroad to.
The other of the advisory levels set by the State Department, representing countries URI has deemed unavailable for study abroad, three and four, are ‘reconsider travel’ and ‘do not travel.’
“We’re gonna move forward,” Hospod said, “we can’t afford not to. People are really invested in continuing with these experiences for our students, [and] it’s so important that we’re engaging the world in a productive way.”
Sophie Bacas is a URI senior currently studying marine affairs and environmental and natural resources economics at the American John Cabot University in Rome. She is doing this through Academic Programs International, a third-party program that the education abroad department put her in contact with.
She initially intended to study abroad her sophomore year but had to defer her plans for two years because of COVID-19.
“It was a difficult process,” Bacas said, “but it was the best decision of my life.”
Now, Bacas feels like she knows the city of Rome “like the back of her hand.”
She credited her ability to go abroad to her advisors, specifically Michelle Carrara, an advisor for the Education Abroad Program. Bacas described Carrara as “an absolute saint” through the entire abroad process.
In addition to having to provide both universities with immunization records, an identification card and a copy of her passport, Bacas had to travel to the Italian Consulate in New York City to obtain her student visa.
She also needed to provide an education abroad approval form in order to ensure that the credits she earns at her Italian university can help her complete her degree from URI.
Of the 77 students studying outside of URI this fall, 71 are considered technically “abroad.” Among the international countries URI students are at are Taiwan and Scotland, as well as many others around Europe. Of the six students who are not traveling abroad, four are doing domestic programs and two students are doing a Semester-at-Sea trip
On the Kingston campus this fall, URI welcomed 127 international students to campus, mainly from Europe and Asia. The University is one of 175 colleges in the U.S. participating in the National Student Exchange Program.
The deadline for applying for J-term and the spring semester abroad trips is Oct. 1. Students can find more information about abroad opportunities on the University website.