BELTON, Texas — As the number of Coronavirus cases has climbed worldwide, universities have pulled students from study abroad programs. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor planned a trip to China for the past two years, but when the travel risk level went up to four, they had to call it off.
The trip was part of the McLane business school for students to learn about culture and global business and impact enterprise. Because this went hand-in-hand with the semester's curriculum, the university did not want to cancel, so they decided to relocate to Peru.
"South America has one of the lowest incident rates," Jim King, a professor in the McLane Business School, said. "Peru does not have a confirmed case as of this morning."
No longer worried about the trip to China, UMHB is looking further ahead to the upcoming European trips.
"We have trips in May to Taiwan, Scotland and France," UMHB Study Abroad Coordinator Dr. Michelle Reina said. "Those are places where cases are increasing, so we're keeping a close eye on those. But right now, no changes have been made."
The school is making sure to keep students updated on new information regarding Coronavirus as it comes in.
Dr. Reina sent an email to all of the students, "I told them we are closely monitoring all of these trips and that right now there are no changes, but this doesn't mean there won't be," Reina said.
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