LANGUAGE: 
ENGLISH
MAGYAR
ROMÂNÂ [coming soon]

IN SHORT:
Rights to study, but in safety!
 
The Medicine Faculty of the international University George Emil Palade Targu Mures (Romania) has decided to place between July and August 2020, a single summative on-site theory examination for all subjects of the second semester. This means that international students from all over the world, will be obligated to travel back to Romania to take the exam, ignoring the risks represented by the actual COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Although students from all sections and affected faculties have expressed their concerns, fears and have strongly manifested their preferences in taken singular online examination for each subject, the university administration has ignored us. “The decision has been already taken” we were answered, leaving no space for further discussion.
Reasoning for their decision were as follows:

• Risk of technical problems during the online examination, such as connection disturbances.
• The quality of the medical examination would be put at risk if taken online;

In the coronavirus era, all around the world students are allowed to take place to their examination and exercise their right to study through online platforms, yet we are asked to ignore the safety guidelines provided by our countries to gather, hundreds of us and take an exam that could be performed in all safety from behind the screen of our computer.
For those students living in countries in which travel-ban is applied (forbidden by law due to the pandemic) a special session in the following semester would be organized, putting the students in a position of major stress, where they’d need to prepare for multiple exams in a short period of time (frequently over 6 subjects at the time).
 
We hereby ask for your support, to raise awareness and help us exercise our right to study SAFELY! We shouldn’t be asked to endanger ourselves, our beloved ones, to raise the possibility to spread the disease when there is an internationally approved alternative, online examinations.

FULL STORY:
The University „George Emil Palade” UMFST of Târgu Mureș, obligates all students, from all over the world, to return to Romania in the time between July and August 2020 to take a single summative exam for the subjects of the second semester. The university administration explicitly state to ignore the singular state travel warnings as special examination dates will provided during the new semester only for students in which travelling is legally prohibited.

Students from the University UMFST have vehemently expressed their will of being examined online, yet they have been ignored. Instead on-site exams have been decided, for the following reasons (Deans Meeting 29.04.2020):

• Technical problems, such as connection problems, would endanger the quality of the examination.
• Statistically, the risk of having technical problems is in percentage, the same as not being able to be present for the on-site exam, and therefore the latter should be favoured.
• The fact that other universities in Romania would allow online examinations would be a lie, as those would refer only to the enrolment to the university;
  
  Especially for this last point we have large amount of informations proving this statement to be wrong.(*)

We, students of the affected faculties of UMFST, don’t agree with the decision of presenting to an on-site examination because of the following points:

1. The University of Târgu Mureș demands to ignore travel warnings established by the governments of our homelands and start a journey to Târgu Mureș, that in majority of cases include multiple train, bus, taxi rides and flights.
   
   Please note that there are close to no direct flights to Târgu Mureș, almost all students would be forced to travel through Romania in a time where social-distancing and home-isolation have been strongly encouraged to stop the coronavirus spread.
   
   We feel as this is not a responsabile nor reasonable request to do, as by travelling we not only endanger ourselves but we also represent a risk for public health by increasing the risk of viral transmission.
   
   As medical students we recognise the importance of the “stay at home” measures and it is our responsibility to raise our voice and protest.
2. Many students have voiced their worry about the summative exam. The summative exam is a single multiple choice questionnaire of around 150 questions divided in sections, each section representing a discipline of the second semester, explained during lessons held online. Until now each discipline had its separate theoretical examination, and now, more than ever we don’t see the benefit of this kind of examinations.
   
   In the eventuality in which a student won’t be present for the exam, a special session during the new semester would be installed, leading to a monstrous amount of old and new disciplines being investigated in a short period of time, submitting students to a significant amount of vain stress and pressure.
3. Practical knowledge is already being tested online.
   The university decision will apply only for the assessment of the theoretical knowledge acquired in the different disciplines during the second semester.
   One would think (and hope) that the quality of examination wouldn’t vary between practical and theoretical testing, moreover the same technical problems that might arise during a theoretical testing would affect the practical judging too.
   Once again this demonstrate the absolute unreasonable stubbornness of our university administration, who should have at heart the health and interest of their students.
4. Students might be subjected to a 14 days quarantine once they’ve traveled back to Romania. This would mean considering travelling 15+ days before the examination in order to be allowed to attend the examination.
   
   Please consider the fact that the period chosen for the examination is originally not considered as part of the academic year; this means that many students would need to renounce to summer job, internships and so on. The possibility of being placed into quarantines due to the university absurd demands represents an additive burden.
5. As stated before, numerous other universities are examining their students online, like UMF Iuliu Hațieganu Cluj-Napoca.
6. Erasmus students and free movers at UMFST Târgu Mureș are currently being allowed to be examined both for their practical and theoretical knowledge. Although we are fully aware of the different necessities of the case, we don’t see a valid reason motivating this difference in approach. The quality of the teaching and of the examination should be equal for all students, no matter if being host for a short period of time. Therefore, once again, the provided motivations that would lead to the decision of an on-site kind of examinations are not valid.

As a final note we would like to highlight the psychological challenge that being ignored in such difficult times by the university represents

We see this petition as a last resort to make the difference. We want to be responsible, we want to exercise our right to study and to be safe. 

We would like to feel confident that our university, UMFST Târgu Mureș, is making every effort to ensure that our professional career and personal health is not affected by the global crisis; this is sadly not the case.

Our solution would be online examination for each subject separately. This solution has been implemented in national and international universities, so it has been proven to be an option.