University of Wollongong students could be back in the classroom as early as this month.
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UOW Vice-Chancellor Professor Patricia M Davidson said the university was monitoring the health situation closely, with plans to return to campus in mid-February.
"The good news is we are bringing staff and students back to campuses for teaching from week four of Trimester One and for teaching in Autumn session 2022," Prof Davidson said.
Autumn Session Orientation Week starts on February 22, with most classes to start on February 28.
"The feedback from students is very clear in terms of their eagerness to get back into the classroom, so the great majority of our classes will resume as on-campus delivery," she said.
"With the pandemic still impacting some student cohorts, we will also support those who cannot attend class on-campus by providing online or dual-delivery for all core subjects so these students can progress in their studies."
Prof Davidson said a robust COVID Safe Campus Transition Plan was critical to a successful return and keeping staff and students safe.
"This is being communicated to staff and students prior to implementation from 21 February. 2022 will be an exciting year for all of us here at UOW and also for our region. It will see large numbers of students - domestic and international - returning to our Australian campuses, bringing back vibrancy to campus and city life," she said.
UOW's stance comes a day after NSW's new Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, Alister Henskens told the Mercury the government had encouraged the university sector to resume face-to-face teaching as much as they could.
"I have had a very positive response from the vice-chancellors in that regard. They do want campus life to return again because that is very important for the educational experience of our students," Mr Henskens said.
"Some of our tertiary students will be graduating at the end of this year and if they don't have a much more normal university experience this year, then they will have had their whole university degree interrupted.
"We are very keen to get them back to face to face teaching and having a proper university experience as much as possible."
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