Coronavirus: Uni semester goes ahead, schools defend isolation plans

Victoria’s largest university has delayed the start of semester one, while Gippsland Grammar has defended its decision to welcome eight international students from Shanghai into its boarding house in January.

Postponed: Monash University has pushed back the start date of semester one in light of coronavirus. Picture: AAP

VICTORIA’S largest university has delayed the start of semester one due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, while classes will start as planned on other university campuses.

Monash University has 11,000 enrolled students from China. The institution decided to push semester one’s start date from March 2 to March 9, after postponing more than 850 exams earlier this month.

No classroom teaching will be offered until March 16, with students told to study online for the first week.

Meanwhile, University of Melbourne, La Trobe and Swinburne will start the term as scheduled on March 2, while Deakin will start Monday, March 9, also as planned.

These universities all said they were following Federal health department advice about how to minimise health risks.

In a statement, a La Trobe spokesman said: “La Trobe University is actively managing its response to the novel coronavirus situation.

“For students affected by the current travel ban we are contacting them all individually to offer a personalised study plan, outlining the best way they can resume or commence their studies.”

Delayed start dates, online learning and deferrals are being offered to University of Melbourne students affected by the travel ban.

The Australian Government-imposed ban, announced on February 1, prohibits any foreign nationals from entering Australia until 14 days after they have left mainland China.

It has affected 613 La Trobe University Chinese student visa holders, who are outside Australia.

News of universities’ coronavirus plans come after secondary schools have endured weeks of scrutiny about how they dealt with students who had travelled to China.

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Independent school Gippsland Grammar welcomed eight international students from Shanghai into its boarding house on the Sale campus on January 28.

Principal David Baker said the school took every step possible to protect the health of all its students.

“At that time when students came back, a lot of schools in Melbourne had decided to isolate the kids straight away and that was quite public,” Mr Baker said. “I did have a few families say, ‘Why aren’t you doing that?’.

“I know a lot of those other principals, and everyone had a different context. Some had 70 or 80 (international) students returning.

“In our case, we had eight students who we knew were healthy and were from Shanghai.

“By the time they arrived in the country, the recommendation was that the only students who needed to be isolated were those who had visited Wuhan or Hubei Province.

“We confirmed with them that none had been to that area. Following that advice we felt it was safe for them to come to school and into the boarding house. They all visited a doctor when they arrived and I had a nurse come in every day.”

Mr Baker said that when the travel ban came into effect on February 1, he decided to move the eight Chinese students to a nearby campground where they could be isolated for 14 days, to give the school community extra reassurances but also protect the Chinese students.

“If a kid sneezed or coughed, everyone was panicking,” Mr Baker said. “People were jumping at shadows. Part was to protect the kids from that.

“I was worried people were going to start watching them and it wasn’t fair to them.”