Students with underlying medical conditions will be able to request that all their course content be provided online, if they are unable to attend their face-to-face teaching and learning activities, College announced today.
Students who wish to move their course content fully online must contact their tutor and Head of Department, who will deal with the request on a case-by-case basis.
College has said that students are, however, “expected to attend their face-to-face teaching and learning activities”.
In accordance with new government regulations, students will have to wear face masks during all teaching and learning events, in the Library and in other public spaces like the Buttery and the Book of Kells.
Staff have been advised to wear visors instead of masks, in order to help them communicate more clearly.
Face masks will not be mandatory for students who cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering “without severe distress” based on health grounds.
Staff and students may also remove their masks to “communicate with a person who has difficulties communicating”, to provide “emergency assistance or to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person” or to “avoid harm or injury, or the risk of harm or injury”.
At the beginning of August, the government published a set of public health guidelines for higher education institutions.
These guidelines relaxed the two-metre social distancing rules, allowing students and staff to social distance by one metre if instances occurred where “teaching cannot be delivered while maintaining 2m distance between students”.
The government recommended that if universities decide to discourage students suspected of having coronavirus from returning to their residence, they should provide an “alternative residential space”.
Universities have also been told to set aside a space for students to wait to be collected and taken to live off campus if they develop symptoms while on college premises.
The government has also said that “students should not visit buildings other than the one where they live and should not invite guests to the residences”, adding that “students who are not residents in HEI accommodation should not access the buildings”.
