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Pandemic to keep many Alberta post-secondary students off campus this fall

Many Calgary post-secondary students won't be returning to campus this fall as the COVID-19 pandemic continues

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Many Calgary post-secondary students won’t be returning to campus this fall as the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to limit public gatherings through the end of 2020.

Most universities and colleges in the city have announced that on-campus instruction will only take place for some specific courses, while remote learning will continue for all other classes.

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That’s what the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology announced Wednesday, with the “majority” of its classes slated to stay online.

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“The health and safety of our SAIT community remains our top priority, and the decision was made in consideration of health restrictions and guidelines,” SAIT vice-president academic Brad Donaldson said in a letter posted to Twitter.

“We are currently looking at safe physical distancing solutions for any on-campus labs and hands-on courses.”

Students at SAIT can expect to learn program-specific details about the upcoming semester from their academic chair, the letter said. SAIT did not respond to multiple requests for an interview from Postmedia.

At Mount Royal University, a similar plan is in place, with details on which classes will require students to be on campus expected to be released to students Monday.

“Much like other institutions, we are preparing for alternative delivery for the majority of our courses in the fall,” said Stephen Price, dean of MRU’s faculty of health, community and education.

“Courses that will happen in-person mostly are in health-related programs, nursing, midwifery athletic therapy.”

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Price added that some more complex science labs that don’t translate in a “simulated experience” would also stay on campus.

He said the decision to keep things mostly virtual was made to accommodate students who live outside of the Calgary area or live with people at greater risk of severe illness from the novel coronavirus.

Though he said it was the right decision, Price said no one wanted to have to make the call.

“This is not ideal for any of us,” he said. “We value the in-person experience and the face-to-face and the relationships students and faculty members get to make, and we know that this is something we need to do in the short term as we learn more about COVID.”

At the Alberta University of the Arts, which relies heavily on in-person studio classes, the school said in an online FAQ that course offerings would focus on those more conducive to distance learning. As well, it says students should still be able to graduate on schedule and that students unable to visit campus won’t be disadvantaged.

At Bow Valley College, all instruction will be delivered remotely, something the school’s vice-president academic Misheck Mwaba said was decided on partly because of the school’s downtown location.

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“To keep everybody safe would be a challenge. If we have to comply with physical distancing, it means having very small class sizes, and most of our students and class take transit,” Mwaba said.

He added that Bow Valley College has formed a committee that’s creating a plan for an eventual return to face-to-face learning.

The city’s largest post-secondary institution, the University of Calgary, committed to blended course delivery for the fall 2020 semester in mid-May, pledging to have a maximum of about 30 per cent of its student population on campus at any given time.

jherring@postmedia.com

Twitter: @jasonfherring

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