SINGAPORE, Aug 3 — With universities slated to reopen for a new semester in the coming weeks amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, many Singaporeans enrolled in schools overseas have been left with a difficult decision of whether to stay here or go.

Some of the 13 students TODAY interviewed are not troubled about returning, but others say they face a tough dilemma — and some have been distressed by making a decision.

"I'm not looking forward to it. I'm really dreading it. My anxiety levels have definitely increased,” said Joshua Champion, 24, who has decided to return to the United States to complete his final year of reading economics at The University of Texas at Austin when school reopens on Aug 26.

While his school has adopted a hybrid system of conducting both online and physical classes, Champion said that he is in an "unfortunate position” as all his classes will not be made available online.

"I really don't have a choice. It's either that or I stay in Singapore and maybe take a gap semester. But I'm worried that if I do, renewing my student visa might be a tough situation to be in,” he said.

Since returning to Singapore in mid-March when Covid-19 cases in the city of Austin, Texas began to spike, Champion also applied to local universities here to try to complete his degree here instead, but was told that he would be required to restart his degree.

Reports have also surfaced that Champion’s university has the highest number of reported coronavirus cases among all public educational institutions across the US, causing him greater fear.

"I am worried for my health. I'm really concerned about whether I'll be able to come back to Singapore if I need to and if I am allowed back, I would have to pay for my healthcare out of pocket and that's also a big concern,” he said.

"It is very disheartening. I hope the administration sees this as a need to make a move into fully online courses. The semester hasn’t even begun, and there are so many cases,” said Champion, who will be leaving Singapore on August 14.

‘Virus is everywhere’

However, Faith Tay, 20, who is a psychology major at the Oral Roberts University in the US state of Oklahoma, does not have the same worries.

Tay, who returned to Singapore after the Government issued an advisory for all students to come back in March, told TODAY she is "pretty happy to go back”.

"Maybe I’m naive, but the virus doesn't really affect young people as much and I believe that the virus can be as easily transferred in Singapore as it can be in the US.

"I think since the virus is everywhere there isn’t much of a difference to me whether I am in Singapore or in the US,” said Tay, who will be leaving Singapore next Saturday in preparation for her semester, which starts on Aug 13.

As for Nidesh Muralidharan, 24, he made the choice to return to the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, where he reads law, to be able to spend his final year abroad.

"While the university has not made it compulsory for students to be present on campus to complete the next academic year, it would be a shame if I had to complete my final year online from Singapore,” said Nidesh, adding that a friend there told him that the Covid-19 situation is "not as bad back in Bristol.”

Nidesh also said that since his university course fees have not been reduced or changed, it "does not make sense” to be paying the same amount to complete the degree without being there in person.

"Hopefully the situation does get better and we get to go back to the normal university routine. I really don’t want to be missing out on the university experience as well,” he added.

Fear of 'Covid-19 parties'

Ashley Lim, 23, a fashion design student at Middlesex University London, has decided to forego the university experience for peace of mind and will be staying put in Singapore for the upcoming semester.

A month after she returned to Singapore in March, Lim made the decision that she would not return even if deferring the semester was her only option.

While her university offers a combination of both online and offline classes, school authorities made an exception for her to complete the semester fully online after she expressed her discomfort in returning given the pandemic.

"People there refuse to wear masks and I think they are very socially irresponsible and their hygiene and cleanliness levels are also extremely low. I’ve even heard of some of them hosting Covid-19 parties,” said Lim, referring to parties where guests who have tested positive to the virus are present.

"It’s just not a situation I want to put myself in,” she said.

While Lim has made her stand, Sarah Ang, 21, who is enrolled at University College London, remains undecided if she should return to the UK for the semester which starts on September 28.

While she has been told that all lectures and seminars would be made available online, she is unsure if she would be receiving the same standard of teaching as compared to her peers who will attend classes in person. She also relies heavily on resources available at the university that are not available online.

"But at the same time, if teaching will be available entirely online I’m not convinced that it will be worth the risks to go back,” said Ang who shares Lim’s uncertainties on how the UK is managing the Covid-19 situation.

She also fears that there may not be medical care readily available to her as an international student should she come down with the virus in the UK.

Australian immigration rejecting students from returning

For students enrolled in universities in Australia, however, the decision to return to school for the new semester is not solely up to them — an application has to be lodged and approved by Australian immigration authorities before students are allowed to return.

Jackie Tan, 23, who is enrolled at the University of Sydney’s Doctor of Veterinary Medicine course, lodged his application two months ago hoping to return for the new semester which began last Monday but was rejected two weeks ago.

While most courses have been converted to an online format, veterinary medicine, medicine and dentistry students have placements to fulfil as part of course requirements which can be done only in person, he said.

"They gave us two options — we continue with university but we complete some units now minus the placement units like going to the farm or we take a gap year,” said Tan who picked the former option and recently lodged another application to go back.

"I chose to continue because I’m still hoping I can go back so that I can get the placements done this year. My course is already six years, so adding one more year if I can’t fulfil my placements now is quite long,” said Tan, who is in his third year.

He added that while the school gave students a letter to attach to their immigration applications to help their cases, not much else is being done to assist them.

"Course fees are still the same and if they don’t want to reduce it, they should be doing more to help us. Some of us are also still paying rental for our accommodations over there because all our stuff is still there,” said Tan, who added that Singapore authorities should also help students in similar positions.

TODAY has reached out to the Australian High Commission to ask if there is a blanket ban on overseas students going back and what students here should do if that is the case. — TODAY