Waterford Institute of Technology has told its students via email that all lectures, tutorial and practical classes will be delivered remotely (off-campus) for the academic year 2020/21.
In an email sent to last week, students were told that:
The Institute has developed a model for academic delivery 2020/21 which places the welfare of our students, staff and communities at the forefront of our thinking.
1. All lectures, tutorial and practical classes will be delivered remotely (off-campus) for the academic year 2020/21. Remote delivery will include live-streaming of lectures and other forms of remote learning platforms appropriate to individual modules or programmes.
2. Learning activity such as laboratories and workshops or those that require special equipment will occur on-campus but be subject to appropriate social distancing and PPE based on the physical layout of the learning spaces.
3. Your level of on- and off- campus activity will vary depending on your programme.
4. Where prevailing public policy and the prevalence of Covid-19 change, return to on-campus delivery of lectures, tutorial and practical classes may be facilitated on a phased basis. Live streaming or remote delivery will continue in all cases in tandem with any further physical return to campus to ensure continued flexibility and choice for learners.
We appreciate the difficulty that students and your families have in planning for college during a changing situation dictated by public health considerations. We advise that you be as flexible as possible in your planning particularly regarding accommodation, travel and general study arrangements for 2020/21. Our campus accommodation would like to assure students who have booked WIT accommodation and have a change of mind before signing a contract that their deposits will be refunded on request.
In the meantime, we will continue to provide you with more details as we have them. For instance, updated timetables are being worked on by our timetabling unit and we will provide those to you as soon as they are available which is likely to be mid-September. Our library, shop and restaurants will all be open, albeit in a more restricted manner. Orientation will take place for first years but in a different way than previous years and we are working on a phased return to campus learning once national restrictions ease. All these and many more details are being worked out and we will update you once we have a more definite information to give you.
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