As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Hoang Thi Binh Giang, a student at the Psychology Faculty of Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, returned home. Since then, she has studied online and has had no interaction with her teachers or classmates and no extra-curricular activities. Giang said, ‘The 6 hour time difference has affected my life and health. The lessons are heavier and more difficult to manage. Without extra-curricular activities and interactions with other people, I have lost the motivation to study. I’m very sad because I spent a lot of money but can’t study in the environment I like.
Most students choose to study abroad in order to learn in a more advanced educational environment with a modern , improve their chances of finding a job abroad and explore the culture, land, and people of their host country. But COVID-19 has turned things upside down. Nguyen Dinh Phu, a 3rd year student at Calabria University in Italy said, 'Learning online, we do not have practice and the lessons are more theoretical. I study tourism but now I can’t go out to practice. Most students who choose to study overseas want to find a job there. But the situation has become more difficult.'
Living in Vietnam and studying online, the students still pay the same tuition fees and other university costs.
Until the epidemic is contained, it will be difficult for these students to return to school.