A group of 19 University of California students, five of whom attend UCSB, were evacuated from their study abroad programs in Egypt yesterday following the State Dept.’s release of a travel advisory for the area.
A team of archaeologists, faculty and a parent were also transported from Egypt yesterday. All the University of California affiliates were taken to Barcelona and are expected to return to California later in the week, a UC Office of the President press release said.
The 19 UC students were scheduled to begin a semester study abroad program at the American University in Cairo on Monday. The 11-member team of archaeologists, faculty and staff — a research team from UCLA — was on a dig 200 miles south of Cairo when they were evacuated.
“We are both happy and relieved that they have been delivered from what our overseas contacts described as an unstable situation,” UC President Mark Yudof said in a press release.
Thanks for the recognition, Nexus! I’m one of the UCSB students in Barcelona at the moment, and it’s nice to know that fellow Gauchos are thinking of us. Just a few details: We (the EAP Egypt participants) were part of a year-long study abroad program, not a semester. We had been in Cairo since August 2010, and had planned to remain there until May 2011. Classes at the American University in Cairo were canceled for at least one week due to the demonstrations, so the program would not have started this week. Also, the workweek starts on Sunday in Egypt,… Read more »