As a result of COVID-19, by mid-March 2020, the Welsh Government made the decision to cancel all international travel for Seren students in 2020 in line with increasing global restrictions on travel and public health guidance.
The Seren International Online 2020 programme, delivered over 3 weeks between Monday 20th July and Friday 7th August, was devised by Seren in collaboration with Jesus College Oxford and Equal Education Partners following the cancellation (due to COVID-19) of the Yale Young Global Scholars, Harvard Summer School and UChicago Summer Session programmes which Seren students were due to attend in 2020.
The programme, conceptualised by the Seren team and designed by Jesus College and Equal Education Partners, enrolled 95 Seren learners in a three week programme. All students were enrolled in one of four capstone projects focused on different academic areas, drawing on the structure employed by Yale Young Global Scholars in previous years.
Capstone projects:
1) Life Sciences (Antibiotic Resistance);
2) Physical Sciences (Super-forecasting);
3) Social Sciences (Human Rights); and
4) Arts & Humanities (Global Pop Culture & MFL)
Teaching team:
5 Seren alumni (Welsh students at Oxford, Cambridge, Kings College London and St.
John’s College, USA)
6 Yale-NUS College students (from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Singapore &
Turkey)
4 lecturers from the University of Oxford
2 Instructors from MIT who have previously taught in Wales through the Welsh Government’s MIT Global Teaching Labs in Wales programme.