The Bing Overseas Study Program (BOSP) suspended all study abroad programs for spring quarter. 265 undergraduate students who were accepted or waitlisted to a Spring program are impacted by the suspension, according to the recent BOSP announcement.
The recent program suspension follows a series of cancellations to BOSP programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Winter 2019-20 programs were forced to end early, Autumn 2020-21 programs were suspended during the summer and Winter 2020-21 programs were suspended before the start of the 2020-21 academic year.
Summer 2020-21 BOSP program applications remain open. Although some students were disappointed, they recognized the global health situation.
“Despite my disappointment, I think BOSP handled the decision relatively appropriately,” wrote Addison Jadwin ’22 in a statement to The Daily. He would have studied at Oxford in the spring.
Jadwin mentioned that the impact of the second spike was hard to anticipate. “I sort of figured from the beginning that it might get canceled (since Winter was also canceled), but I was hopeful things would be better by spring. It’s good that they at least gave us a few months’ notice,” he wrote.
BOSP faculty director Aron Rodrigue informed spring quarter program participants and their families of the program’s suspension in the announcement. He attributed the suspension to the “ongoing unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on global health and travel.”
“The decision prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of our students and the host communities in which we engage,” he wrote.
News of the suspension came shortly after a Re-Approaching Stanford announcement was made earlier that morning. The announcement mentions circumstances that may require undergraduates to vacate campus midway through the 2021 Winter Quarter.
“We hope to safely and responsibly resume programs in Summer Quarter 2020-21, and have added additional programs to our traditional options,” wrote Rodrigue.
Contact Rosana Maris Arias at rosmar18 ‘at’ stanford.edu