Welcoming international students back safely

12 Oct 2020

Working with the Irish Universities Association, UCD signed up to a sectoral protocol in August entitled “Welcoming international students back to Irish Higher Education Institutions in safety”.

This protocol contains a series of measures to support students arriving in Ireland from overseas, to ensure that this arrival is managed and coordinated, and to protect public health and the safety of all students, staff and the wider community.

For Trimester 1 2020, the protocol measures have included:

• A nationally-coordinated meet and greet service at the airport.
• A free transfer service to campus and/or accommodation.
• Active health monitoring for a period of two weeks before and after arrival by way of a daily online health questionnaire.
• Targeted briefing for students on how to comply with Irish public health measures.
• Support with accommodation and pastoral care for the 14 day period of restricted movement on arrival in Ireland.

To date, UCD has supported 1,967 international students from 96 countries under the above protocol. A short video clip of the arrival experience can be viewed on the UCD Global YouTube channel.