Dear UWA Students
Last week I wrote to you with details of the University’s Recovery Management Team (RMT) and how we are planning and coordinating a COVID-safe reopening of campus and return to face-to-face working, learning and campus activities.
We have now heard from both the Federal and State Government on further details relating to getting our economy up and running and getting people safely back to their workplaces.
In particular the WA Premier’s announcement of easing of restrictions for WA starting next Monday, 18 May has raised questions about how this will apply at UWA. We are all very keen to get back to a pre-COVID way of teaching and learning but the reality is this is some time away yet.
We are carefully planning a gradual reopening of our campus over the coming weeks and today I would like to share some details about this as it will affect you.
In short
Operational update (current advice)
Parking on campus
Support for online exams
Operational update (current advice)
Our return to campus, in a new COVID-normal world, must be managed in a consistent, coordinated and controlled way to protect the health and safety of everyone – to do it any other way would be to risk a second wave of infection. Hence, as we begin the journey we are taking a considered, planned approach as we did when we were ‘ascending the curve’ and preparing to teach and learn remotely.
Our Recovery Management Team is now working on a four phased reopening of campus to guide a organised return to working and learning across the University. This is to ensure we can continue to align our teaching and learning spaces and facilities within current health and safety regulations and higher education sector guidelines. This structured return to campus activity will start next week with the aim of having all staff back on campus by 20 July, and most campus facilities and areas open, ahead of the start of Semester 2 on Monday, 27 July.
For now though, as we continue our planning for a phased return to campus, our current advice remains unchanged – teaching, exams and assessments will continue to be delivered through online methods for the remainder of Semester 1 and many of our face-to-face services remain accessible to you online. As campus facilities and services gradually re-open we will let you know.
Semester 2 will also be available in an online mode, and even if we are able to safely recommence teaching on campus, all lectures, tutorials, exams and assessments will continue to run online for students who cannot get to campus due to travel restrictions.
Of course if you are on campus and accessing facilities, strict physical distancing requirements must be followed at all times. Physical distancing means maintaining a distance of 1.5 metres between yourself and other people and an area of four square metres per person in learning spaces and campus facilities. And yes, remember to keep washing your hands!
Parking on campus
Parking conditions across all UWA campuses will revert to standard operating arrangements on Monday, 25 May 2020. This means that you will need to have a valid student parking permit or parking voucher displayed, and you will have to park in the designated student bays. These measures will be enforced by our parking officers.
These arrangements will be in place until Friday, 12 June 2020, at which point they may be reviewed. Please note, students that have purchased a parking permit for Semester 1 will have this permit transferred and used in Semester 2, so no new permit is required to be purchased. Contact Unipark should you have any further queries.
Support for online exams
In the lead up to Semester 1 exams, a number of support materials and resources have been created, for both Examplify and LMS exams. This includes guides on preparing for online exams, and troubleshooting and technical FAQs. Be sure to have a look at these support resources for assistance.
It’s the weekend again, and for those of you in WA, with more freedoms available than last week. The joy of being out, with friends and family, is yours to relish. I look forward to the day we welcome you all back to campus, from wherever you are living, to which for the moment is serenely beautiful but empty but for the ducks, the crows and the magpies. A campus without students is a lonely place. But we will meet again soon.
Enjoy your weekend.
Best,
Jane and Bre
Professor Jane den Hollander AO
Vice-Chancellor
Bre Shanahan
President
UWA Student Guild
Vice-Chancellery • M464, Perth WA 6009 Australia