SLU news

The corona status at SLU

Published: 20 November 2020

Due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, from 24 November 2020, restrictions will be introduced that further restrict gatherings and other activities in society. You can read below what the consequences will be for SLU.

All our units involved in education have done a very good job of ensuring that teaching can take place with as little risk of infection as possible. So far, SLU has been spared any major cluster outbreaks on our campuses, hopefully a result of so many of us respecting the guidelines. The new, stricter guidelines mean we must all contribute to further limiting the spread of the virus.

On our part, this means that the existing instructions relating to the pandemic will be tightened, hopefully only for a shorter period.

Managers need to continue to encourage staff to work from home whenever possible.

For students, it means that more teaching will take place online. However, students must check what applies to their particular course or programme as some key components and exams will still take place on campus, with the necessary arrangements made to reduce the risk of infection.

Tightened restrictions

The restrictions below apply for a limited period, initially 24 November to 23 December. This may change if the government issues new restrictions.

Buildings on campus will be locked as of 24 November. This means that the public will not have access. Students and staff can enter using their access cards. More information is available here: https://internt.slu.se/en/news-originals/2020/11/locking-of-entrances/

Public defences of doctoral theses must be made available online to meet the openness requirements. The number of people on site should be kept to a minimum, 8 people or less.

Teaching

  • To the extent possible, teaching should take place online. Face-to-face teaching is allowed if absolutely necessary, but only in small groups (approximately 10 people).
  • Teaching that has up till now been prioritised for on-campus delivery such as seminars, exercises and other components with a high degree of interactivity, need to be redesigned for online delivery to the extent possible, or given in small groups (approximately 10 people).
  • Examinations should, as far as possible, be online. For examinations that cannot be done online, the number of seats in examination halls will be further reduced.

The above also applies to year-1 students on degree programmes.

Help and support

Examiners and course coordinators (equivalent) should consult management at their department (head of department, departmental director of studies/equivalent) and programme director of studies about the possibility of further increasing the amount of online instruction.

Those who have planned examinations on campus should contact the Division of Learning, Media and Digitalisation for support with the transition to online examination. More information is available at https://internt.slu.se/en/support-services/education/educational-and-digital-support/.    

Inform your staff

The staff web is continually updated with new pandemic-related information, but managers must also communicate any updates to their staff.

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