Impact of COVID-19 on graduate student placements
Updated: Thursday 9 July 2020
Over June and July 2020, GSA has seen a surge of issues related to student placements.
During the period of relaxed COVID-19 restrictions in May and June, some students were briefly able to return to placements. Even then, they encountered severe disruptions, limited placement options, and a lack of clear information from the University. We have heard from medical students who were sent home from hospital placements due to confirmed cases of COVID-19 among their co-workers in early July – a severe and unforeseeable disruption to their learning opportunities.
GSA released a report in May 2020 outlining 5 crucial recommendations to the University to address these student placement concerns. But as of Tuesday 7 July, the situation has changed again, with a return to stage 3 lockdown measures in Melbourne. Placements are once again likely to be cancelled, postponed, or made online-only.
Our full report from May 2020 is available here.
The University’s responses to our report, given on 17 June, are available here.
However, the situation with placements has evolved over June and July, with a resurgence of case numbers of COVID-19 and a return of stricter lockdown measures in Melbourne. As such, we are still gathering concerns and the advocacy is ongoing.
GSA would like to hear from you on how your placements have been affected by COVID-19 and its impacts.
This form is currently closed for submissions.