Different Arctic countries have chosen different paths in their response to the pandemic. We encourage all affected students to get in touch with their home institution and follow the recommendations from them or from or their national health authorities, on how to behave in this situation.

There are also some questions about how to deal with the financial side of the situation. Some have bought tickets, but will not be able to travel. Others have to abort their stay and go back home immediately. We have discussed this issue among the National Agencies in the Nordic countries. The general attitude is that we will be very flexible in our response to the problems everyone affected will meet. Each case will be dealt with individually. When possible, we advise all to use the possibilities most airlines have to have a refund of tickets not used, or a reschedule if necessary, to get back home. We encourage all to contact their north2north institutional contacts to clarify their situation if there are changes to their original plan.

At this point, it is impossible to know when the situation will return to normal. The north2north system will continue working according to the set time schedule when it comes to the application round for the next academic year. What will happen, eventually, will depend on how the different member institutions assess the situation.

UArctic Vice-President Mobility, Pål Markusson