Coronavirus: Tamil Nadu students take Italian university classes online – Times of India

Chennai News

CHENNAI: Last Saturday, before Italy’s government imposed a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19, Tamiloli flew from Milan to Chennai. But that hasn’t prevented him from attending his classes.
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From 1pm to 9pm daily, the masters student of mechanical engineering at Politecnico di Milano, is glued to his computer at his Vepery home, attending online classes conducted by his professors in Milan.
“Our classes were to begin on March 3 after the vacation, but due to the Covid-19 outbreak, particularly severe in the Lombardy region, the university decided to postpone the classes for a week as a precautionary measure,” says Tamiloli.
“A few days later, we were informed online classes will be held in a bid to control the situation. So I decided to return to Chennai.”
Many Indian engineering aspirants are drawn to universities in Italy where the courses are good, affordable and they can hope to find good jobs in Schengen countries.
But, with 60 million people on lockdown in Italy, and a death toll of 168, many foreign students have returned home.
And Italian universities are ensuring they do not miss out on academics.
Tamiloli is one of many students from Tamil Nadu continuing their studies in virtual classrooms.
R Aravindh, who is also pursuing his masters in management engineering at Politecnico di Milano, returned to Trichy on February 21 and attended his first online lecture on March 3. “It’s a live lecture and we can ask questions just as in a real classroom. It’s just that I am logging on from Trichy while my classmates are logging on from Iran, Spain, Germany, Poland and Pakistan,” says the 24-year-old.
“The university has said it will offer online classes till April 8 and then make a decision based on how the situation is.”
He chose an Italian university for his masters’ as it is affordable and English is the medium of instruction. “It is also close to Germany, which is the prime market for mechanical engineering and I did my UG in the same.”
Arul Jebakumar, 24, also returned to Chennai on February 29. “I was in Puglia in the southern part of Italy, but I got to know that Covid-19 is spreading across the country so I decided to return. Yesterday, I was told that 30 people were infected in Lecce, the town I live in,” he says.
On March 3, at 1:30pm, he began online classes from his home in Purusawalkam. “We use Microsoft Teams and our professor sends us notes as PDF files and also voice notes highlighting the important points …”

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/indian-students-take-italian-university-classes-online/articleshow/74584097.cms