Metropolitan University

For everyone sending a child to a London university, the past weeks have been tense. Amidst news of chaos and terror, parents were wondering how their children were holding up (and studying) in a city struck with riots and violence. But as peace and normality are beginning to regain control, no news of Metropolitan University students being affected by or involved in the chaos have emerged. Since rioters largely stayed away from homes instead attacking stores and official buildings, university life has continued as usual.

To be sure, life has been different for a while. Many international students reported that stores closed early and some areas of town were proclaimed off limits. Some have held close contact with their embassies, but retained a clear grasp of both impact and extent of the situation. One Indonesian student told the online news source tempointeractive that he saw more Police on the streets, “especially on high streets like Oxford Street, but it’s not as bad as Jakarta in 1998.”

Others, especially those with non-white ethnic backgrounds, felt somewhat intimated by the prejudices, as one student reported to the Ugandan Daily Monitor: “Because most of the rioters are blacks, it has put us in a tight corner. Being black and a foreigner, everyone around would look at you suspiciously.”

But this sentiment was certainly not shared by many. Most students, both male and female, did hardly feel the impact of the riots for the personal experience. Except for some unease while watching the news and the understandable excitement among Londoners, those studying at London Met were able to remain focused and concentrate on their everyday tasks.