Universities set to stay online until next year
In another blow to the Melbourne CBD and Victorian economy, tens of thousands of Victorian university students face learning from home for awhile longer. Here’s when they may be returning.
Tertiary
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Tens of thousands of Victorian university students face learning from home for the rest of the year as the state grapples with a fresh wave of coronavirus cases.
In another blow to the Melbourne CBD and Victorian economy, tertiary institutions have revealed most students will study online until March 2021.
The COVID-19 spike has left institutions — many of which had planned a gradual return to face-to-face lectures — reeling.
The development is also set to create financial pain for the universities’ associated residential accommodation providers, and delay Melbourne’s post-lockdown recovery.
University residential colleges are often independently operated and rely heavily on fee-paying international students, as well as regional and rural students unable to commute daily to the city for lectures.
International education was worth $12.6 billion to the Victorian economy last financial year, supporting about 80,000 jobs.
University students also contribute heavily to Melbourne’s hospitality sector, spending money on food and drink and adding vibrancy to the city.
But the Sunday Herald Sun has been told many international and Australian students are seeking to withdraw from university accommodation for the whole year, amid health fears and with campus activities heavily curtailed.
Deakin, Latrobe and Swinburne universities have confirmed online teaching will remain in place for the majority of their courses, while the University of Melbourne has said any “large group teaching” will be off campus.
At RMIT, only teaching “that cannot be replicated online” will be delivered on campus, with priority given to final-year students.
“Looking ahead to semester two, our current position is that classes that can be delivered remotely, will continue to be delivered online — lectures, tutorials, lectorials and seminars,” a RMIT spokesman said.
Small group, practical teaching in a limited number of subject areas is expected to proceed on campus — with strict social distancing rules — at most universities.
Subjects that require labs and hands-on training, such as science and health, are among those that may see students return to campuses.
But the Sunday Herald Sun believes on-campus learning will be the exception, rather than the rule, across Victoria’s tertiary sector.
Monash said it had planned to offer “a blended mode of learning”, with some units offered online only and others on campus, before the latest COVID-19 spike, but those plans could now change.