(Almost) Back to School for International Students
For international students enrolled at CUNY, education has become a land of uncertainty as health measures imposed by COVID-19 forced colleges to remain closed for the Fall semester.
The ongoing global pandemic that urged American universities to conduct distance learning in the Spring 2020, continues to revisit the way education is delivered. On July 10th, CUNY’s chancellor Felix V. Matos Rodriguez announced in an email to students that classes would resume with a combination of in-person, virtual and hybrid courses in order to preserve students and staff’s health.
And if in March safety measures to prevent the spread of the virus merely forced students to leave campus to study from home, after seven months of distance learning, international students are expressing uncertainty about their academical journey in the USA.
“For students that went back to their home countries or for the ones that were unable to obtain the F1 visa this semester, they’re unsure if they will be able to return/go to the US due to travel and visa restrictions, closure of US embassies, discrimination and fear,” said Kim Vo, 39, a former designated school official (DSO) now also working for International students Admissions and Recruitment at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC).
It is the case of Rania El Frougui, 18, whose visa wasn’t approved for the Fall semester and must stay in Casablanca, Morocco and postpone her studies until 2021.“Everything was ok, the problem was the embassy. It was open for American citizens who were stuck here, but not for students visa. It reopened on the last week of August but it was too late for me; school had already started so they told me to defer to next semester,” she said.
El Frougui virtually graduated high school in June with a baccalaureate in economy and sociology and has wanted to move to New York City to pursue a degree in Business management ever since she was a child. “I’ve decided that when I was in middle school. My sister had the chance to go there so that was an opening for me to make my dream come true,” she explained.
Despite the bitter news, she uses her free time productively as per her request, her sister who’s already enrolled in Baruch College, sends her math exercises to study and prepare for her arrival in the States, scheduled in late December.
The recent graduate remains hopeful for the future and hasn’t given up on her dreams. Excited to discover college life she claimed, “I had a period where I considered going to another country, I had been accepted in very good schools, like La Sorbonne in France but the best opportunities I can have are in the USA so canceling my plans isn’t an option.”
Other students had the opportunity to start their freshman semester, on the condition to stay in their country and take classes from there since embassies are closed. Oftentimes this means adapting to time difference and a potentially weak internet connection.
Thierno Nouhou Bah, 23, started his first year of studies as a scientific engineer at BMCC but is forced to attend his courses from Lomé, Togo, where he resides with his family and is completing another degree from his local university.
According to him one of the biggest struggles about following classes from overseas is to communicate with professors and classmates. “I have a bad Internet connection but the hardest is exchanging with other students and professor. Following classes in English causes me trouble, because even though I’ve studied English in Togo I feel a difference with the accent,” he said.
Staying motivated while studying alone in his apartment is complicated and Bah explained feeling tired when having to focus on hours long science lectures.
The lack of access to campus’ facilities also strongly impacts the good progress of his studies. “One of the reasons I decided to study in the USA is because we have access to more practice in the labs, so I’d say it’s pretty disappointing not to be able to have access to all this material. I’m hoping next semester will be different because engineering science is a passion of mine and I really want to get started with more practice,” he said.
For those who were here physically in the Spring and returned home over the summer the situation has become complex. Divided between the memories of a chaotic previous semester and the desire to come back, their “American Dream” is damaged.
A BMCC sophomore, majoring in Business administration, who returned to Ecuador in May and asked to remain anonymous for fear of immigration complications, confessed he missed going to campus and learning in the classroom. “Everything is going in a self-taught mode. There are some factors such as my family, my dog, my friends who want to go out that prevent me from focusing on my classes but I’m trying my best and I’m doing okay so far,” he explained.
For the 20 years-old who first arrived in the USA with hopes to discover a new culture and meet friends, the completion of his studies is now a stressful and blurry phase. “My family doesn’t want me to go back to the states, my dad wants me to stay with him. And it’s hard for me to understand that because the main reason I came to the USA was to get a better education and a better perspective of what things are like in another country,” he said.
By Lylia Saurel