CUSP Shares Concerns About Students Studying Overseas
CUSP has issued a statement highlighting concerns about students who are studying overseas.
A statement from CUSP follows below:
Many Gibraltarian students are heading off to the U.K. and elsewhere to continue their studies. As always, the Government of Gibraltar (GoG) is giving them welcome financial support. This year has been a difficult year for students, and CUSP is concerned that they are supported whilst away from their homes and families.
We have also noted concerns from students about the lack of information about grants, and delays in receiving money, leading to difficulties in booking flights and accommodation. In some cases this has led to students not being able to enrol for courses, or missing the deadline for entry and having to scramble to catch up.
For this year, we are aware of the pressure the Department is under, and urge them to continue to process these applications as quickly as possible.
We are sure that the Department will be conducting a lessons learned exercise from this year’s experience and look forward to seeing improvements.
We would like to see for future years:
A clear process set out on the Department for Education website for applying for scholarships. This should include:
- the date for receipt of Form A (the initial application pre-results)
- the date for receipt of Form B (the confirmation of offer and final grades)
- the information needed to support the application at each stage
- the format the information should be in (PDF, Word, etc)
The Department for Education should also set out on their website how long it will take to process applications, and when students can expect to hear from them.
Most importantly, the Department should set out on their website the criteria for allocating scholarships to those applying for non-mandatory support.
We would also like the Department to give a time for a full response when sending acknowledgement emails to applicants.
It would be helpful for the Department to publish figures on awards given, awards not given, and the total payments to students.
We are concerned that students studying overseas, away from their homes and families, and their normal support networks, may struggle. This is of particular concern at present given the pandemic. Many students will attend lectures virtually and may miss out on opportunities to make friends. We would like GoG to consider this and put measures in place to support our students.
We recommend:
- that the Department for Education gives guidance to students before they leave Gibraltar. Ideally, they would work with schools to make sure that in the year leading up to study abroad, students are given useful tips and guidance.
- that the Department for Education checks in with students by email near the start of term to confirm that all is well.
- That the GHA sets up an email helpline for students overseas, so they can access healthcare and be given advice and pointed in the right direction quickly.
