The University of Notre Dame announced Wednesday (Nov. 20) that it has suspended spring 2020 programming at three Hong Kong universities because escalating violence poses an unacceptable risk to the 14 Notre Dame students slated to attend classes there.
The universities include the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Over the weekend, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology itself decided to suspend all inbound spring 2020 exchanges because of the crisis.
“International exposure is an important part of a Notre Dame education, and we reluctantly suspended programming in Hong Kong because student safety must be paramount,” said Michael E. Pippenger, vice president and associate provost for internationalization. “We are working with the affected students to find alternative international programming in the many countries around the world where Notre Dame has a presence.”
Notre Dame ranks seventh nationally among doctoral-granting universities for study abroad participation, with 70 percent of its 8,500 undergraduates studying abroad for academic credit in Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Originally published by at news.nd.edu on November 20, 2019.