The number of foreign students is the highest at UD in Hungary. About 6,500-7,000 foreign citizens will start the academic year 2020/2021. 2,500-3,000 of them are returning, or arrive for the first time, at the end of August or in early September. Due to the pandemic, and in line with official measures, UD has demonstrated extra care in checking the health status of arriving students.
– In August we started to ask our arriving foreign students to stay in quarantine until they were able to produce two negative PCR tests. According to a government decree announced late August, only foreign students without any symptoms can enter the country. Then they have to spend 14 days in a quarantine facility designated by the authorities or in home quarantine, which they can leave after two SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests have been performed with negative results within 5 days, with at least 48 hours difference. All foreign students under medical surveillance, including those with positive test results stay at a facility that has been approved by the authorities – said Attila Jenei.
The director of the Coordinating Center for International Education of UD added that the university has provided accommodation for self-financed students and Stipendium Hungaricum scholars for years. As the dormitories are full, for this purpose UD has reserved rooms in a hotel, in a section separated from the guest areas. Now, due to the pandemic situation, the university has increased this capacity, as these hotel rooms are perfectly suitable for medical surveillance.
Students who are diagnosed with COVID receive proper treatment and are transferred to hospital if necessary. They are kept isolated.
A team of 20 experts at NOKK has been taking care of the situation of foreign students in relation to the pandemic. They have even designed a sticker for students under medical surveillance.
– The purpose of the sticker is to ease other students’ minds that these students are not sick, they are simply in quarantine in order to slow down the spread of the disease – explained Attila Jenei.
Regarding measures introduced because of the pandemic, UD has closely cooperated with the Department of Public Health of the Debrecen Regional Office and the state authorities.
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