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“When I saw the images of Mallorca I decided to come because it seemed like a very special and beautiful island.” Happy and excited, the exchange students received yesterday the welcome from the University of the Balearic Islands after a first semester where these programs were canceled due to the evolution of the pandemic. As Igor Prieto, director of promotion for Internationalization at the UIB, explained, all expectations have been exceeded: “We are surprised with the amount of people we are receiving. They have exceeded expectations considering the difficulties of the current situation.
165 students join the UIB during this second semester, students coming from countries like Germany, France or even Bosnia and Herzegovina, as is the case with Sanel, who study economics and he is very excited about this new adventure: «I hope it will be a great experience, especially when the good weather arrives. At the same time, I will also try to enjoy the university campus because it can serve me a lot. An illusion shared by Helena Schlegel, from Germany: “With this exchange I seek to meet new people and learn a new language such as Catalan and Spanish.”
One of the elements for which these students have decided living this experience on the island is the climate and landscape that surrounds Mallorca. “It is a very beautiful island, with a large city and many spaces to visit,” he said. Lara Vondenburg, student from Belgium. A vision that he also shared Helena Schlegel: “The sun and the beach, the good weather has undoubtedly influenced the decision”
On the other hand, the United Kingdom has been one of the countries with the fewest students (only two). From the point of view of Igor Prieto, is not a consequence of Brexi, but rather the epidemiological situation that exists there: “The arrival of British students has been reduced but I would not link it to Brexit, I think it has more to do with the situation of the pandemic”.
Happy with the measurements
Despite the data left by the third wave on the island, the students they were very satisfied with the measures taken by the UIB in the presentation and they were also surprised by the degree of compliance with the rules on the island. «In my country people are not so strict with the measures. In fact, here there are more restrictions, such as the closing of bars and restaurants, in which they only let you pick up the food and take it home. Here they are very strict with this type of norm ».
Mobility control
The UIB and Vodafone have developed a technological project to obtain objective data on the use of space on the university campus and thus control the capacity in public use areas. The objective is to promote reliable information on the use made by students, teachers and staff of areas such as the library, laboratories or classrooms. The first data analyzed indicate that the number of daily visitors to the campus has decreased by 70% compared to the previous year, as a result of the new face-to-face measures adopted by the University of the islands.
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