Three students from Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC) have decided against going on an exchange to a Turkish university. This means that no ESHCC students will be going to Turkey in September.

Two students planned to go to Bilgi University in Istanbul, a third was going to study at Koç University (in a suburb of Istanbul). One of them is now going to Leicester, another to Prague and the third student will not be going on an exchange at all.

After the attacks and the coup in Turkey, the faculty contacted the students. “We didn’t say they couldn’t go on the exchange; we left the decision up to them. We follow the travel advice issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is not negative,” explains Emma Hamilton from International Bachelor Communication and Media (IBCoM). However, they did help the students find an alternative.

Information centre

From Erasmus University as a whole, around ten students are going on an exchange to Turkey. If they have any questions, they can contact the International Office, which has opened a special information centre due to the situation in the country. In Belgium, all universities have decided to suspend the exchange.