#gradrights

[sonakshisrivastava]

GradRight-India's Digital Ecosystem For International Higher Education

GradRight is India's premier digital DIY ecosystem for international higher education, connecting and facilitating seamless connections between students, colleges, and financial institutions. Through cutting-edge AI technology, GradRight empowers students to find the perfect college fit at the right cost, while aiding universities in attracting deserving candidates and assisting banks in efficiently financing education.

Its unique processes include leveraging data science to provide hyper-personalized recommendations for colleges and funding options, eliminating any consultancies or middlemen to reduce costs, and ensuring transparency and credibility throughout the education financing journey. Moreover, it is also the world’s first loan bidding platform which helps students get the lowest interest rates against their loans.

With a commitment to democratizing access to quality education and simplifying international higher education, it is an amazing one-of-a-kind platform for students seeking international higher education, making dreams of studying abroad a tangible reality!

[gradright]

GradRight | education loan for study abroad

GradRight aims to foster a holistic ecosystem to help students fulfill their aspirations to study abroad by addressing the prevailing information asymmetry. Students can choose the universities that are most suited to their profiles and goals through the SelectRight platform. As India's first education loan-bidding platform, FundRight connects students with more than 13 lenders to avail education loans most cost-effectively. Through the services offered by GradRight, students can pursue their ambition to study in their dream universities without any unnecessary financial burden

https://www.gradright.com

#education loan for study abroad #studyabroad #mba in canada #study in usa #study in canada

[gradrights]

Let’s talk about masks at Purdue...

Data has repeatedly shown that mask-wearing is one of the best measures a community can adopt to stop the spread of COVID-19 (you can read more here and here). 

Purdue's solution to prevent such spread when campus re-opens is to give people two masks in a kit, and then leave enforcement of mask wearing up to staff and instructors via normal disciplinary procedures. GROW believes that this is a high-conflict approach which will be disproportionately applied to groups often targeted by punitive approaches- Black, immigrant, and disabled populations. 

Fortunately, THERE IS A BETTER WAY. Purdue has the resources to adopt a FAIRER APPROACH. The university should definitely keep its plan to offer masks in the preparedness kits, BUT they should also offer masks via dispensers in/at the entrance of buildings and provide stockpiles to staff to offer to unmasked students. This shifts the policy from an enforced mandate to a community-minded effort backed by institutional resources. Some departments and buildings on campus are already distributing masks, and we believe this approach should be adopted university-wide. 

It would be an abdication of responsibility by Purdue to disregard an approach that enables wider distribution of masks, particularly during a time of national reckoning about what a just society should look like. Free and widespread distribution of masks will help create the campus culture that Purdue University leaders are currently seeking to promote. 

#gradrights #gradschool #purdue #covid19 #coronavirus

[gradrights]

Why does Purdue need legal protection from its own students?

It has come to our attention that Purdue University is seeking federal protection from students who opt for legal recourse if they contract COVID-19 in the Fall semester when the university plans to allow students back on campus. GROW believes that if Purdue expects its students to contract COVID-19 when in-person classes resume in the Fall, to the extent that the administration is worried about legal liability, then this presents clear evidence that the university is anticipating a significant risk to its students on being infected. At the same time, Purdue has not provided sufficient clarity about the measures it is currently implementing and plans to in the near future to enable its students and staff members to make informed decisions about their health and well-being. Thus, it is important to ask if the Purdue campus is going to be a safe environment for work, research, and learning in the Fall; or does Purdue need legal protections? The two cannot go hand in hand. 

Purdue has a responsibility towards its students and staff to provide them with information on what options are being considered for resuming in-person classes in the Fall, how those options were selected, and what criteria are being used to judge safety. Our society has, for generations, expected schools and workplaces to provide a safe environment for both work and learning. The right of workers to a safe workplace was guaranteed by labor activism following a series of fatal disasters. Workplace safety law exists so that these disasters do not occur again. When universities seek to avoid legal penalties for failing to provide a safe workplace, it is tantamount to asking for legal protection to avoid the consequences of providing an unsafe workplace. Individuals must have clear information about a situation in order to make informed choices about their own well-being. However, it is impossible for individuals to make responsible choices for themselves or their families when they do not have access to information about the relative benefits and costs of those choices. This is why universities, during these uncertain times, must be especially transparent. Universities can either choose to provide a safe learning, research, and work environment for their students and workers - in which case they should not need extra legal protections - or they can allow students and workers returning to campus to be at risk of infection, in which case the university will need legal protections. If the case is the latter at Purdue, the working conditions are clearly not adequately safe for in-person classes to resume in the Fall. GROW demands that Purdue should provide answers to thef following key questions before moving forward with resuming in-person classes in the Fall:

What, exactly, is the relationship between the Safe Campus Task Force (SCTF) and the Board of Trustees, especially given that the SCTF report is not yet available to the broader campus community and yet the Board of Trustees and President Daniels are already making decisions?

What does the interaction between local public health agencies, the SCTF, and the Board of Trustees look like?

What assumptions and limitations are the SCTF and the Board of Trustees working under in their decision-making?

Furthermore, it is Purdue’s responsibility to communicate clearly to its employees and students. This must occur before any representative of the university makes statements to the press. We believe that this use of national media, most notably by President Daniels, is unfair to those who will be most affected by the decisions; it prevents members of the Purdue and Greater Lafayette communities from weighing in on those decisions, which are presented as a fait accompli with little to no input from the community. Thus, we call on the Purdue Board of Trustees and President Daniels to respond to our requests outlined above and to answer concerns related to the decision making processes pertaining to the restarting of in-person classes in Fall 2020. 

#purdue #grow #covid-19 #gradrights #gradschool #coronavirus

[gradrights]

GROW’s COVID response demands from Purdue adminstration

In addition to acknowledging the severity of the public health crisis that the spread of COVID-19 has precipitated, GROW also recognizes the racism it has engendered. We condemn all acts of racism, in particular the discrimination and violence faced by members of the Asian and Asian American community. We encourage everyone to speak out against such acts and please reach out to us if you are aware of any such incidents occurring at Purdue.

GROW also wants to draw your attention to the labor rights’ issues that the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated. As Purdue moves classes online and reduces activities on campus, we urge all students and staff to stay vigilant of their health and rights. On behalf of all the workers at Purdue (post-docs, graduate and undergraduate students, staff, and faculty), we call on the administration to:

1. Ensure that all hourly and salaried workers receive full pay, even if university operations are suspended and the nature of the job prevents workers from working from home;

2. Provide unlimited paid sick time, with full health benefits, during this emergency period for workers to take care of their own illness or that of a family or household member;

3. Commit to providing for and fully covering the costs of coronavirus testing, treatment, and vaccination for all workers;

4. Ensure that workers on Purdue insurance plans are able to access sufficient amounts of their prescription drugs if they are leaving campus and/or in the event that they need to self-isolate themselves. Other insurers are looking into temporarily waiving drug regulations to account for these situations, and we encourage Purdue to do the same;

5. Provide emergency loans for workers who have to pay out-of-pocket for healthcare due to inability in accessing services at PUSH;

6. Provide legal guidance and support to all international students, especially if students are unable to “continue to make normal progress in a full course of study” because of illness, inadequate educational resources, travel bans, or other complications; and

7. Present a clear plan for students who do not have access to internet devices or services outside of facilities at the university, as well as, ensure that necessary arrangements are made so that students who are unable to access online classes are not penalized.

These demands have been modeled on the demands put forth by the Harvard Graduate Student Union from their own administration. We encourage all student organizations across the country to ensure that the workers’ rights on their campuses are protected in this period.

#gradrights #purdue #covid2019 #gradschool #labor rights

[gradright]

GradRight aims to foster a holistic ecosystem to help students fulfill their aspirations to study abroad by addressing the prevailing information asymmetry. Students can choose the universities that are most suited to their profiles and goals through the SelectRight platform. As India's first education loan-bidding platform, FundRight connects students with more than 13 lenders to avail education loans most cost-effectively. Through the services offered by GradRight, students can pursue their ambition to study in their dream universities without any unnecessary financial burden.

https://www.gradright.com