Arab students in US struggle with new Covid-19 reality – The National

Arab students in US struggle with new Covid-19 reality – The National

As the coronavirus pandemic raced across the globe in March, the second-year business studies student at the University of Dayton in Ohio found his days filled with uncertainty.. When his university campus shut down on March 11, Mr Al Rawahi was faced with the choice of staying in the US or returning home.. Like Mr Al Rawahi, tens of thousands of US-based college students from the Middle East have had their lives upended due to the coronavirus pandemic.. More than three-quarters of all US colleges have asked their students to leave on-campus residencies, though some, such as Al Rawahi's, have allowed international students to remain in place if they choose.. In the academic year 2018-19, the latest for which figures are available, 81,126 students from Middle Eastern and North African countries were enrolled in third level education institutions in the US, according to data from the New York-headquartered Institute of International Education's (IIE) 2019 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange.. The Middle Eastern student body makes up around eight per cent of all foreign students at university in the US, with students from China accounting for more than one-third of the total number.. On March 23, the UAE requested