Mobility in numbers: outgoing Autumn Semester 2020-2021 and an outlook into the Spring Semester

187b089e0176f627e1f0b5f5adaf0ef2.jpeg

Servizio relazioni internazionali e mobilità

21 Ottobre 2020

Back in February, the International Relations and Study Abroad Service received around 100 applications from students interested in spending an exchange period at a partner university during this current Autumn Semester 2020-2021, reconfirming the trend that sees the numbers increasing every year.  

In the meantime, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some of our partner universities decided to revoke the mobility, while others offered alternative solutions such as distance learning or the possibility to defer the mobility to the Spring Semester. The International Relations and Study Abroad Service supported all students affected by this situation and helped them make a sound decision.

Let’s see some statistics of our outgoing students in the Autumn Semester 2020-2021:

Mobility by gender
33 female, 32 male

Mobility by Study level
16 bachelor students, 49 master students

Mobility by Faculty
13 students of the Academy of Architecture (5 out of 13 will be abroad for the full academic year)
19 students of the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society
28 students of the Faculty of Economics
5 students of the Faculty of Informatics

Mobility type
1 student took advantage of a bilateral agreement
25 students chose a European destination (SEMP programme)
39 chose the Swiss mobility 

Destinations
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, students have favored Swiss Mobility. In particular, we are experiencing an increasing request for the University of St. Gallen. For the SEMP programme, Copenhagen Business School is again among the favourite destinations, together with Universidade Catolica Portuguesa in Lisbon. Other countries such as Austria, Finland, Germany, France and Spain also confirmed the trend of the past years. 

15 students affected by the decisions of our partner universities decided to defer their mobility to the Spring Semester to the same destination, whereas 7 decided to keep their mobility period in the Autumn Semester but opted for a different university.

Unfortunately, and mainly for reasons related to the Covid-19 and the uncertainty of this situation, 21 students decided not to take advantage of a possible relocation and withdrew from the mobility.

On 25 September, we collected more than 50 the applications for mobility during the Spring Semester, a number that is surprisingly high. Students are now being nominated to our partner universities. 

We are fully aware that the Covid-19 pandemic may “shuffle the cards” again, and things may change very suddenly. We do hope that all our students will be able to carry out their experience abroad and again in the months to come we will work closely with our partner universities to help our students fulfil their dream.

We take this opportunity to thank all our partner universities for their flexibility and availability over these last critical months. It has been quite a special journey.