As the SHU postgraduates admit that communication with the university’s US campus was not as good as they had hoped due to delays in replies and a lack of information ahead of the announced closure, uncertainty grows.  Photo: Guy Wolff

As the SHU postgraduates admit that communication with the university’s US campus was not as good as they had hoped due to delays in replies and a lack of information ahead of the announced closure, uncertainty grows.  Photo: Guy Wolff

Nearly ten days after students enrolled at Sacred Heart University Luxembourg were told that their campus would close, they remain unsure regarding the next steps in their education and say that communication with the headquarters in the US has proven difficult.

The news that SHU Luxembourg would close came as a shock to those enrolled in the programme. They were informed via email by the SHU headquarters based in Fairfield, Connecticut on 16 May.

“All of a sudden when the decision came, it was very shocking for us because none of us were aware that such a thing could happen,” one student told Delano.

The head of the campus in Luxembourg, Antoine Rech, that for him, too, the closure--which comes with all six staff at the campus being laid off--was unexpected. 

To alleviate the transition period from the classes in Luxembourg moving entirely online, the university announced that students would benefit from a 40% discount on remaining tuition fees. The students said this was not mentioned in the initial email announcing the campus’ closure and came only after classmates contacted the university’s US headquarters looking for their issues to be addressed.

Although the offered discount provides some comfort, question marks remain over how it will be applied. The structure of the tuition payment differs among students according to each individual’s programme. Some pay the entire amount upfront while others pay only a third or half of the sum initially.

“Every one of us has a very individual tuition fee schedule, but also different amounts that are to be paid as we have three different MBA programmes. So, the solution on discounting the remaining fees, does not fit everyone. So there again, there has to be a more precise solution, which we hope that will come in the next days,” said another student.

The situation for third country nationals is more complicated as they require a student visa. To obtain this, a person needs to have a full-time student status in a higher education institution in Luxembourg. For those who are midway through their programme at SHU and especially for those who have just begun, the campus’ closure raises question over their status. The students were told that there is a legal issue and the University does not have an answer for them at the moment.

As the SHU postgraduate students claim that communication with the university’s US campus is not as good as they had hoped--due to delays in replies and a lack of information ahead of the announced closure--dissatisfaction and uncertainty over how they will continue or complete their degree grow.

“There have been instances where the students did not feel like doing the assignments,” said the first student.

The only two options those who had enrolled at SHU Luxembourg have are to continue online or to move their studies to the US. The overwhelming consensus is that the online version is not the programme that they had signed up for with Luxembourg--as a financial centre--providing a great opportunity to network and access internship opportunities.

“People are not going to move to Connecticut, they have lives here, they have their career, they have plans. So nobody should expect anyone to just uproot everything and just move. If we had to move to the US, we would have chosen Fairfield campus in the first place,” said a third student.

The three students, whose views are shared by many of their classmates, are not sure what step they will take next. But they said they want to weather the storm for now and make a decision once they have more clarity.