With the COVID-19 vaccine being tested across various places in the UK, the government has come up with a happy promise for its international students. The Department of Health and Social Care announced that the COVID-19 vaccine will be available for international students to secure their safe health.

With the pandemic disrupting the education system in various countries, international students were most affected by the ban on travel. After nearly 8 months, the Study Melbourne has revealed that international students will be allowed to return to Victoria in early 2021.

Owing to the increase in the spread of more infectious Covid-19 variants, on January 29, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had announced that in the coming few weeks, international travellers must adhere to additional testing and quarantine rules. They must take a Covid-19 test upon their arrival in Canada.

Last week, Canadian Minister of Immigration Marco Mendicino, had announced that International students enrolled in Canadian post-secondary institutions can now complete their programmes completely online and still be eligible for the Post-Graduation Work Program (PGWP).

The New Zealand government on Tuesday announced that it will allow a limited number of international students into the country this November, 2020. The education minister promised that around 250 international students pursuing PhD or Masters will be permitted to cross borders and enter the country earlier next month.

A piece of uplifting news for educational institutions across the world is that the international students are longing to begin their study abroad, especially in 2020 and the coming 2021. As a consequence of the pandemic, they are willing to take up online courses, however only temporarily.

The Irish government has come up with measures to support the international language students by providing for an automatic two-month renewal of any study visas due to expire between 20 May and 20 July.

Educators in Australia have come up with an innovative idea to encourage international students to continue pursuing their studies online for now. With COVID -19 disrupting the study abroad plans of many international students; Universities had begun introducing temporary online classes. However, many students disliked the approach and expressed fear.

The Le Cordon Bleu University in Australia is offering 50% off on regular tuition fees to all the students who are willing to take up any New Higher Education certification courses online. The University allows you to choose as many courses as you desire to study and the scholarship will be effective for the subsequent years of online study.

Cornwell University has come up with a unique scheme to provide students worldwide with the experience of studying at Cornell by setting up local campuses in their respective countries. The University has promised to set up well equipped local campuses across the world with access to educational course materials and more.

With more than 60,000 international students currently residing in just Texas, the US government had earlier announced that the international students on F-1 and M-1 visas have to deport if they had registered exclusively only for online programs. Interestingly, the US government has agreed to reverse its policy as of today to benefit the students and their Universities.

The Australian Government on Monday initiated a set of new VISA arrangements that entirely benefits the International students. The government has decided to recommence issuing visas outside Australia as soon as possible. Furthermore, the students will be able to lodge for their visa extension for free.

The University of Southern Queensland has introduced valuable scholarships for international students to help them achieve their study goals. The scholarships are based on meeting the entry requirements for the programs of study and successfully passing all courses within the program.

With all the esteemed Universities coming up with new scholarships to help international students, The Australian National University has stepped up with some beneficial financial aids too. To begin with, “The Chancellor’s International” scholarship is offered to 200 top-performing students wishing to study at the university in the first semester of 2021. The students will be offered a discounted tuition fee if eligible.

While studying on campus still appears to be a far fetched dream for many international students, “The University of Nottingham” in the UK has paved the way for the first set of international students to resume their study at the University.

The Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino introduced some important visa approval plans for international students earlier last week. The International students who cannot submit all of the required documentation, can utilise this new procedure.

The COVID - 19 may have pushed the plans of young international students a little behind, but it has not stopped them from dreaming about studying abroad. Several universities across the world have been trying everything in their power to introduce new initiatives that would benefit international students, to make their dream a reality. One such brilliant idea is the implementation of Virtual Campus tours.

The Business Schools Association of Canada (BSCA) has recently introduced its online portal to help international and domestic students to access information about studying in the country. Every year Canada hosts around 17.71% of international students studying business administration courses alone.

With the UK proposing to start classes on campus by introducing a blended form of learning which is inclusive of both online and face to face learning earlier this week, a recent survey has suggested that most universities prefer online courses to that of the other.

The Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne has come up with three new beneficial scholarships for international students. From fee reduction to refund policies, these new scholarships are inclusive of solutions to most of the hardships that the students may come across during this academic year.