140 students will fly into Shannon Airport from the African continent this evening to study at the University of Limerick.
The PhD students will have to isolate on UL’s campus for 14 days as part of international covid-19 travel protocols.
The Algerian government is funding the language course in a deal estimated to be worth over €10million to UL.
The 140 students will arrive at Shannon Airport this evening on a direct flight from the Algerian capital Algiers.
The country, located at the northern tip of Africa, has despite its 43 million population, just over 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, and a little over 2,800 COVID-related deaths.
UL said “in advance of travelling to Limerick, the students have been isolating for 14 days in Algeria and are in possession of a negative PCR test”.
“They will also restrict their movements for a further 14 days on their arrival.”
They will “not be engaging in face-to-face” learning, “in line with current government restrictions”.
UL added the students “are coming to Limerick because the technological infrastructure and internet is not good across Algeria, for electronic access to the library, data bases, and other UL systems”.
