Glasgow, 30th November 2020

 

Dear Dean for Global Engagement in Europe Professor James Conroy,

Dear International Dean of College of Social Sciences Professor Duncan Ross,

Dear Head of Global Opportunities Sarah Armour,

Dear Vice-Principal of External Relations Rachel Sandison,

Dear Director of International Recruitment and Partnerships Ian Thomson,

Dear International Partnerships & Policy Manager Charlotte Kedslie,

Dear Head of International Recruitment Caroline Boddie,

Dear European Recruitment Officers Scott Torrance and Kyle Blain,

Dear International Exchanges and Partnerships Manager Colette McGowan,

Dear International Experiences Manager Celine Reynaud,

Dear Business & Management Coordinator Ramona Blanes,

Dear GoAbroad Team,

 

We are writing this petition regarding your latest decision of cancelling the online Virtual Exchange of University of Glasgow students with Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.

We are deeply disappointed with this decision.

We made peace with the fact that Covid19 took away the opportunity for the in-person exchange and Erasmus funding - we do not ask for that. We made peace with the fact that we are disadvantaged because we happened to experience our university years during the global pandemic.

However, we do not understand why University of Glasgow, our beloved institution, does not want to let its student experience even the minimal substitute of this long-promised service and let us do the Bocconi Virtual Exchange Program online, safely from the virus.

When asked, the staff is giving us vague responses of why such decision took place. We were given information that UofG is worried about the “standard of teaching” and the “lack of student support when studying remotely”. We want to address these arguments. Firstly, Bocconi is the 5th best University in Europe, which UofG pride itself to be partners with. We do not understand why UofG would now undermine Bocconi standards, both of the teaching and the student support. Secondly, we would want to ask what kind of student support UofG thinks Bocconi will lack: mental, general assistance, communication? Sadly, we do not think that UofG level of support in these terms has been adequate in this situation either. We are disappointed to say that we were treated very poorly by UofG, who did not even officially let us know about the fact that we are not allowed to do the Virtual Exchange program anymore. All of the official communication we got up until this day, both from UofG and Bocconi, was stating that Virtual Exchange is going ahead. One of the students have learned about this cancellation two days ago because they called the Go Abroad office about something completely unrelated. We believe that this is unacceptable for an institution which has just been announced “The UK University of the Year” by Times Higher Education Awards 2020.

We worked very hard to earn the nomination to Bocconi University, which is the 5th Best University in Europe. Bocconi offers highly exceptional educational offer with subjects that UofG does not offer like: Sustainable Fashion Management, Luxury Brand Creation, Green Marketing, or Management of Arts - subjects which are essential to our planned career paths.

Bocconi is still offering the Virtual Exchange to us– nothing has changed. This is approved by the information on Bocconi website and the emails we are getting from them. Moreover, we are in touch with other Erasmus students from world most renowned universities (among others the Vienna University of Economics and Business, which is UofG Partner too) that are allowed by their Home Universities to take part in the Bocconi Virtual Exchange, so we are even more disappointed that our University of Glasgow is not letting us do it. So, essentially our ability to pursue this unique opportunity lies in your good will to say "yes".

More than a year ago we applied for this competitive dream opportunity just for it to be cancelled 5 days before the deadline for a vague reason we cannot understand and therefore cannot accept. We made peace with the Covid obstacles, but your decision of cancelling the online exchange seems not to have anything to do with Covid anymore – because online classes are Covid-safe.

Therefore, we kindly ask all of the aforementioned Parties to reconsider their decision and allow us to do the online classes at Bocconi University Virtual Exchange Program in Spring 2021.

Shall your decision not change, with huge disappointment to your students, could you please propose a feasible equivalent of this long-promised Semester Abroad service for your students, such as: creating new arrangements for students to be able to experience the Semester Abroad in the 4th year or a promise of a full sponsorship of the summer school at a Partner University with all of the travel and accommodation expenses covered. We believe that reconsidering your decision and allowing us to take part in the Virtual Exchange is easier.

We are looking forward to your reply. The online application for the Virtual Exchange at Bocconi starts tomorow, on the 1st of December and last until Thursday 3rd of December.

Yours respectfully,

Maria Jeleńska

Valeria Rincón