With the country easing the restrictions more and more as each month passes, we are seeing life for Irish society slowing returning to a new sense of normalcy but life for students is far from being normal anytime soon.
In a statement sent around to TUD Students via email Dr. Mary Meaney, Deputy President and Registrar for the Technological University of Dublin said that
” In consultation with the TU Dublin Students’ Union, we plan to provide an alternate virtual graduation ceremony, and we intend to ensure that it is as memorable an occasion as is possible in these unprecedented circumstances. The likely dates for these revised 2020 conferring ceremonies will be during the week commencing Monday, 23 November 2020. As soon as arrangements are confirmed in the coming weeks, those eligible to graduate will receive details on how the event will be managed, how their success will be marked, and how to access graduation robes”.
Recognizing that the option of a virtual graduation ceremony is not what you had planned as a celebration of your achievement, we plan to organize a separate ‘live’ event for the class of 2020 next year, subject to the lifting of current COVID19 restrictions’’
It is great to see that those who worked extremely hard for their degrees over the last 3 to 4 years are getting some kind of celebration, it is not ideal especially seeing it is unlikely that students cannot go out afterwards to pubs, events and nightclubs that are closed for the foreseeable future with no road map or decision from the Irish government on when these venues can reopen and resume business as normal.
Read here the full statement form the Student union.
When the country was told that we would be placed under lockdown in early March with no clear date of the lockdown would be lifted as expected the Union of Students in ireland released a survey to ask students some key questions regarding how the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown had effected their lives, here you can their press release entitled ‘’ USI calls for key supports for students ahead of the new academic year’’ which you can find here
TUDSU President Rebecca Gorman posted a video on the official Instagram account for the Student Union is quoted as saying ‘’There’s an awful lot of uncertainty right now and it is very clear there is very little communication to the students about what is happening’’ speaking in regards to the reopening of the university campuses across Dublin for the new semester in September.
The information released by the Union of Students in Ireland is quite startling and expected with the current state of the country but unless the Irish government reply with the appropriate steps students will be facing a new set of already existing barriers to education.
If you need any support, please contact the Student union here.
