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THE MINISTER FOR Higher Education Simon Harris has said that all higher education institutions have been asked to deliver lectures remotely where possible for the next two weeks.
Students will be asked to visit campus for classes only when they cannot be done online. This will include practicals and labs
Already under the Level 3 restrictions in Dublin, third level institutions are asked to limit congregation as much as possible.
The news comes as cases of Covid-19 continue to rise in the major urban centres including Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick, as well as Dublin.
Minister Harris confirmed the measure at a press conference this afternoon.
He said: “This is disappointing, I know, but absolutely necessary if we are to stop the spread of this virus.
“We are also asking students to minimise travel and to minimise the number of social contacts on and off campus.
“We must do everything possible over the next few weeks to stop its spread and give students the best chance of resuming on site activity. Please stay safe and hold firm.”
He said that he doesn’t believe these measures point the finger at young people, and referenced the infamous Golfgate dinner saying “there were no young people at Clifden”.
This decision came from advice provided by the acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn, as well as Harris’ own view, he said.
“[It's] grounded in two things: international experience and where we are with the virus in this country,” the minister added.
In a statement, the Irish Universities Association said all its members agreed to introduce enhanced measures over the next two-three weeks.
It said that universities will use discretion when deciding between onside and remote for the scheduling of particular activities and “favour remote delivery if feasible during the period”.
“On-campus provision will be minimised with priority given to teaching and learning that can only take place on-site,” it said.
Each university will communicate revised plans to student and staff, and added it was anticipated these measures would be reviewed after an initial period.
With reporting from Adam Daly
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I start back Monday. 9am Social Policy lecture from my sitting room. Fine by me
@Alison Maguire: that’s the spirit
@Alison Maguire: love the positivity. Best of luck with it
@Alison Maguire: Great for you but I feel really sorry for 1st year students. I understand that they will have no other choice but to miss out on the college experience but the actual course going online is definitely a difficult place for students to start college.
@Alison Maguire: Thats the spirit
@Tom Leddy: I have one starting couldn’t give a shyte and the university is 5 min walk, other 3rd year and is totally peed off.
Horses for course’s
@Tom Leddy: It depends on the student but I understand it might be daunting for some. It suits me perfect and I found we were at a huge advantage not having exams in May but instead having essays.
It doesn’t look like colleges will be anything but online for a long time.
@Colleen: they made sure everyone got accommodation before announcing it though
@eoin carroll: some are offering refunds though, well at least NUIG is for any student who doesn’t want to take up their place in residences.
@Colleen: Even prior to Covid, many courses already operated online regarding the CA etc. The colleges were able to put together final exams in April & May at the height of the crisis, so I’m pretty sure that they will manage the delivery of courses just fine going forward.
@Brian McGuinness: that’s fine in theory, but plenty of students want more from college life, online learning isn’t the same as being a student.
@EvieXVI: yes it is. If you are studying online, you are a student.
@eoin carroll: it wasn’t the colleges that announced it. It was the government. It has really put lecturing staff on the back foot. So many had prepared for face to face from Monday and with this just announced late Friday afternoon, there’ll be no time to prepare for online for Monday
@Iain MacLaren: my son just literally went on the 6am train from waterford to Galway this morning, Biochemistry science, he just texted me to say this but he still needs to be there for labs. He said he is fine but I really feel sad for him, he will be in hes room for study, please tell me more about the refund? We didn’t get the campus accommodation, he is in one of the off campus ones.. thanks
@Alison Maguire: it’s not about semantics, let’s at least be honest, our young people are losing out. There’s no easy answer, I know, but let’s not pretend this isn’t a blow to them.
@EvieXVI: of course they are in some ways, everybody has lost out in some ways. But they will adapt
@KingLulu Ubas: Hi. The info is here: https://www.thejournal.ie/nui-galway-student-accommodation-refunds-covid19-5213659-Sep2020/ But just for university owned accommodation. Yes, they are hoping to run labs for various courses on-site with appropriate PPE and hygiene , etc.
@Colleen: no, but he said just give a it a few weeks and if we stand form we will defeat this virus.
This empty promise card they are playing almost daily has surely got to come to an end. And this yo-yoing with moving counties, colleges, areas, up and down levels is going to destroy this country if it continues.
@Iain MacLaren: Thank you lain
@Brian McGuinness: Not so simple if you’re a lecturer. Teaching and assessing online is much different than face-to-face. I’ll be doing my best to change what I’m doing to work online, but the quality won’t be the same until I have both the technology and skills in place.
@Alison Maguire: : If someone says the word “student” to you, an image comes up in most people’s mind. It’s not just a person sitting in their bedroom looking at a PC. If you live in a town with a college, you can recognise students purely by appearance and behaviour. Being a “student” and studying are not exactly the same thing.
@Conall: well that image is a sterotype. What behaviour i referring to.
I’m so glad that we have the 5 level strategy. It was well thought out.
@Vanessa: if a plan is not flexible in a dynamic environment it’s doomed to failure.
What’s your plan?
@Philip King ⚡️:
The purpose was to communicate to the public that you are likely to be able to keep control and give them security since the first big demonstrations against restrictions have already taken place.
If I want to present my government as reliable you could sure that my plan wouldn’t have an exemption at the time of preparation and changed after 10 days.
@Vanessa: Its a fairly simple plan and if people followed it this would be easier to control. But that would require intelligence and respect for others.
@PaulOMahoney Irish: It would have been simple indeed. The plan also outlined the level when universities would have to move online.
Again the plan is not even 2 weeks old and has already the second adjustment.
The plan has beside guests at home no rules for individuals and is more orientated around which businesses and services can be offered. You could intend ‘misbehaving’ as much as you like if the service isn’t available on a certain level it’s out of your control.
Well and if numbers are still rising so would have been the level until it’s sorted.
I’m not opposed to have adult learning moved to online but that could have been sorted 10 days ago.
@Vanessa: My children were told by their university that the majority of course work was online. Today is simply reiterating that, labs might be curtailed a bit more but this has been well flagged in advance and with Dublin at level 3 that escalated things even further.
Really don’t know why you’re hair is on fire
@PaulOMahoney Irish: It’s written above.
The next 10 days are pivotal I suppose.
@Tom Bombdadil: and the three weeks thereafter I’d imagine…
@Tom Bombdadil: the phrase has been said so many times in the last 6 months it’s lost almost all meaning, I’m not saying it’s not true but I can’t be the only one sick of hearing it
@The God Of All Nerds: It never had any meaning. They never give any details of how those 10 days went. Its just more nonsense to keep the fear up.
@The God Of All Nerds: They will keep up the narrative until all of the western economies crash. It will start with the US economy crashing.
@Ray Lawler: Does it every occur to you that maybe, just maybe, some of the utter shlte that pops into your mind may not actually be true ? I guarantee than when this is all over and the western economies are getting on with it, you will still be knocking about but will have moved on to some new lunacy pulled from that deep, dark space between your 2 brain cells.
@Tommy Roche: Hi Tommy, millions of people are losing their jobs every week in the US but the markets are rising. Do you see anything wrong with this? I’ll tell you what – let’s see what happens over the next few months particularly with the US economy and we will see how ‘western economies are getting on with it’.
So students will have more time to party!!
@JR: … they will still be doing college. Just instead of being on campus they will be at home.
I started my MSc programme online earlier this week. Although not ideal, everyone’s trying their very best to make it work and it’s something we just have to adjust to and embrace for now. We can get through this!
less travel time = more study time, students won’t have any excuse for missing deadlines
@Bikes rule the world: they’re still in accommodation so your point is????
@Hurler on the ditch: Of course they’ll be in accommodation unless their homeless, the family home counts as accommodation. they won’t however have to spend time travelling to lectures, they can stay in bed all day and attend lectures if they wish.
@Bikes rule the world: I’m guessing you haven’t had to fork out for student accommodation or you’d understand my point.
Waiting until accommodation had been paid for by the majority of students before giving this recommendation is what I find galling.
1st year students are already only on campus 1 week in 4 (or 1 in 3 in some cases) so they are already paying for a service they cannot use in full.
But of course trolls will be trolls. Find a bridge
@Mark Griffin: colleges have been planning for this for ages or at least the decent ones have, The 1 I work in hasn’t had any on campus activities since March and everyone was told early on to expect a lot of this college year to be online so no one was caught out.
Online has been seamless and possible by an amazing IT dept. Plus students can apply for free laptops at the tax payers expense.
As for a paying for a full service, Library’s are now online, some labs can be done online and for the labs that can’t then they will have to be accommodated. Anyone who has any understanding of 3rd level and was watching what was going on shouldn’t have been caught out.
Now I suggest that you build a bridge, get over it and accept that some times we can’t have things the way we want them.
@Bikes rule the world: more excuses depending on quality of wifi too. How was other excuses when on Campus u had to g o ppace to had int and covid could vf more of excuse
Remember the last time this guy told people to stay home for two weeks…
@Ray Lawler: yes and remember the most important thing–the next seven days are always the most important.
So college students will finish college from the their parents house via zoom, then get a job in an office where they have to work from home? What a lovely future Team Lockdown are building for us.
@Mark K: who are team lockdown?
95% of lectures already online
Anything to divert attention from meat factories .
@Divad Nayr: the meat factories haven’t been an issue since august. are you a month behind
What about ETB training centers in Dublin? All can be done online!
Testing Testing Testing Testing
Excellent decision under the circumstances. situations in Cork, Galway, limerick could only deteriorate if the colleges were to go back full time.
@alan: What about Maynooth? Its the same btw
@PaulOMahoney Irish: sure. I thought it was a Dublin college.
@alan: Kildare
@alan: and why decide it at the last minute? Most people have some sort of accommodation agreed and many will have paid a sizeable deposit and bought extra bits and pieces for their place. This could have been advised BEFORE the CAO offers were made.
Keep everything open and restrict people from leaving their counties except for essential purposes. Sounds logical. ??
What about further education institutions? Such as plc courses, does this apply to them also?
Just think 30 years ago this wouldn’t have been an option, thank God for broadband!
Would you not be better off doing an online degree at a recognised university at the moment?
@Colin: I’d be cheaper
Absolutely ridiculous coming out with this after parents have just had to fork out for campus accommodation, especially on the day of the deadline for payment. Full year of accommodation cost has to be paid even though only one week in three being spent on campus. That was bad enough but to be told this now is sickening.
@Mark Griffin: No it doesn’t its paid weekly I know I have students and if this becomes permanent they leave and go home……thats how it works.
@Mark Griffin: Apologise campus accommodation……they still are there and the campus pub is open they pay qtrly here.
@PaulOMahoney Irish: no its not paid weekly. Its an up front payment for the year in 3 installments. For Ul the payment so far has been €3800
@Mark Griffin: Different here then
@Mark Griffin: I suggest you ask for a refund because their taking the p1ss with that
@Mark Griffin: exactly my thoughts, my son just went on the 6am train from waterford to Galway, accommodation paid etc and this happens. I am not impressed
@KingLulu Ubas: There has been no notice. Announcing it at 4pm on a Friday with it to take effect from Monday morning is outrageous. However, given that Simon Harris is in charge of higher education, it’s hardly surprising
Why are the schools still open so?
@Pat Andrews: because children can’t look after themselves during the day. They won’t advertise this but that’s the reason.
Colleges will have to be online for this year at least if not indefinitely. You simply can’t ask students to turn up in such numbers on a campus and social distance then. How could you have one lecture after the other and clean the entire room. Maybe some good might come out of this as many can avoid the dreadful accommodation issues every year now that courses are online.
So if you can’t even watch a YouTube help video without constant buffering , you’re gonna fail college ?
Excellent mobile broadband, Can i get a pass if i only hear every 3 or 4 sentence?
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