The University of Edinburgh has recently cancelled overseas placements for hundreds of its students, citing so-called "Government travel advice", and despite the fact that most of those placements are not due to start for another three months, in countries which are already starting to ease their lockdown restrictions. 

With many European countries already starting to make plans to welcome tourists to their shores from the start of next month, it is clearly far too early to reach such a compromising decision, which not only robs many students of their only chance to study abroad, but also affects the ability of those students to perform satisfactorily at Honours level.

We petition the University of Edinburgh to provide transparency on the reasons for which they have cancelled these placements, and on the advice which they have followed to reach this blanket decision. There is still enough time to reverse this decision and ensure that so many students are able to go on the year abroad which they deserve and need.