NUS warns students to declare travel plans after expelling exchange student for breaching LOA
As the coronavirus situation continues to evolve, the National University of Singapore (NUS) has warned students to declare their travel plans from yesterday to July 31.
If they fail to do so, they will be denied access to the university's online learning system LumiNUS from March 16, the university said in an internal circular.
This comes after a foreign student here on an exchange programme was expelled by the university for breaching her leave of absence (LOA) and making a false travel declaration.
Those without travel plans are required to indicate as such.
The circular - issued by Dr Peck Thian Guan, director of NUS' Office of Safety, Health and Environment yesterday - also said failure to comply with these measures "is considered an offence and will be dealt with in accordance with the NUS Code of Conduct and NUS student disciplinary procedures".
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Leong Ching, the university's dean of students, said in a post on the NUS website on Saturday that the exchange student had breached her LOA and lied in her travel declaration.
Prof Leong added: "The Board of Discipline has terminated her student exchange programme with NUS and she will return to her home university."
The student was reported to her university and given an official reprimand.
It is not known which overseas university the student is from or how she breached her LOA.
In response to queries from The New Paper, an NUS spokesman said the university would not comment further as "student disciplinary matters are internal and confidential".
ISOLATION
Earlier last month, NUS suspended a student for a month after he attended lectures and violated the university's isolation procedures.
The student also received an official reprimand from NUS.
Those on LOA are to remain in their homes as far as possible.
However, unlike a stay-home notice (SHN), an LOA is not legally-binding.
The SHN scheme took effect from Feb 18 at 11.59pm and there are penalties for those who flout it. For example, foreigners may get their work or long-term passes revoked, while Singaporeans could be prosecuted under the Infectious Diseases Act.
Under the Act, first-time offenders can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.
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