After the COVID-related cancellation of most exchange programs last year, the Wageningen University & Research (WUR) wants to cancel all exchange programs and foreign internships to so-called 'orange' countries in the next semester (starting January 2022) again.
 
Many students have extended their bachelor's program for another year (implying an additional year of tuition and fees and study loans) solely to have another chance to go on an exchange and have worked hard to make their desired exchange possible. Other students have been forced to forgo the opportunity to do an internship at their dream company or had one of the most important parts of an internship – being in the office and experiencing a working life – completely destroyed.
 
Preventing students from going abroad dramatically harms their education. Yet, WUR keeps being stubborn in maintaining its policy that students are not allowed to go to an 'orange' country for an exchange or internship (based on generic guidelines by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is not tailored to students). However, a lot of these countries (such as the United States and the UK) are safer than The Netherlands in terms of COVID, with high vaccination rates and lower infection rates. These countries have on-campus classes and are open to receiving foreign exchange students.  
 
WUR’s argument is to stick to their duty of care policy. Nevertheless, at the same time the WUR still receive large numbers of inbound students (financially attractive) from other countries to the Netherlands, which is dark red on the European COVID map.  
 
In addition, other Dutch universities (such as Utrecht University) have decided to allow their students to go to several orange countries (sometimes with a liability waiver) and evaluate each individual exchange or internship in its own right. These other universities acknowledge the long-term character of this pandemic, its severely damaging effects on students’ education, and the value of international experiences and development for their students. It is unbelievable that universities in a small country such as The Netherlands do not have a unified policy regarding students continuing their education abroad. This creates strong inequality between students in The Netherlands.
 
We call on WUR to revise its generic policy with respect to exchanges and internships to orange countries. Such a policy should do justice to each individual exchange student/country. Orange countries are open, with their universities and companies eager to receive WUR’s world-class students. An internationally-oriented university such as WUR cannot take these very important exchanges away from us without substantiated reasons.  
If you support these statements and also believe WUR should reconsider its decision before the winter holidays please sign the petition below NOW!