Universities in Islington have announced the cancellation of all in-person teaching and examinations, in an attempt to halt the spread of coronavirus.
London Metropolitan University, which has a campus in Holloway, has announced that it will close all university buildings from Friday at 5pm, delivering teaching online from Monday March 23. All assessments due to take place in classes, including tests, presentations and group work, will be altered so they can be submitted online.
The university has also suspended all events and open days.
London Metropolitan University said it was not aware of any cases of coronavirus among staff or students, but that it had an “important part to play” in preventing the spread of the virus.
A statement from the university said it had been “planning for a number of contingencies since news of the coronavirus first emerged” and was “confident” it could continue to deliver high quality teaching remotely.
“We know that many members of our community will be concerned at this time, but we are committed to providing our students and staff with the support they need,” the university said. “The health and wellbeing of our students and staff is our number one priority.”
“We will continue to follow the advice from Public Health England and update everyone in our community as the situation develops,” the statement added.
City, University of London, based in Angel, has cancelled all in-person examinations in three of its schools – Business, Arts and Social Sciences, and Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering. Students will instead be tested by “alternative forms of assessment”, though they have not yet been told what form this will take.
Other departments, including the schools of Law and Health Sciences, will have alternative assessments “wherever possible”.
The university’s initial decision was to only suspend face to face teaching from Monday 23 March, which attracted angry reactions from students on Twitter.
User Giulio Caravagna commented: “You should go online from tomorrow, one week with the current spread of the epidemics is insanely wrong.”
Mark Anderson also replied to the tweet, saying: “Why wait another week?”
City university switched its business school Cass, and School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering to digital teaching this week, and, in a U turn, stopped face-to-face teaching in the School of Arts and Social Sciences, after sending students home midday on Tuesday.
The rest of the university is set to follow on Monday 23 March at the latest, with in-person lectures and classes replaced with online resources.
In its closure announcement, the university said it had made the decision “as a result of the rapid spread of coronavirus and the concerns it is causing for our community of students and staff and their families.”
“We understand that students and staff may be worried about this news and ask that all members of the City community continue to support one another at this time. We are taking steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and visitors, based on the latest public health advice.
City’s decision comes after the university’s students union announced on Friday that all events would be postponed or cancelled. While face-to-face teaching has been halted, all of the university’s buildings will remain open and students will be able to access libraries and computer labs to continue their work.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor at London Metropolitan University, Donna Whiteman, offered her thanks to “every single member of staff” at the university for “working so hard to make this happen”. In a tweet she said she “couldn’t be prouder to work with so many fantastic people who are putting staff and student wellbeing and success first”.
The university’s library also tweeted to remind students that “there are plenty of online journals for London Metropolitan University students to use remotely after the university buildings close this week”.
Meanwhile, a petition at City university to temporarily close the university, extend coursework and dissertation deadlines, waiver attendance marks and offer online classes has now reached almost 2,000 signatures.
The petition was started five days ago, and said there had been “increasing concern” among students about their health and safety, as well as the impact of coronavirus on academia.
“The issues above have evidently caused an increasing number of students to not attend lectures and tutorials, preferring instead to stay at home or in some cases, leave the country,” it said.
Many students left comments on the petition, claiming that the response of the university has been too weak.
“The university is not doing enough,” said Emma Taylor James, while Dorsa Shiri said she was “risking her family’s life” by coming to her placement.
“Universities around the country have to do more to protect their students, the government advice isn’t good enough, and universities need to take this into their own hands,” Sam Hewat said.
Tonight the government announced that schools in the UK will close on Friday until further notice and that GCSE and A Level exams are cancelled.
Schools will remain open for children of vital frontline workers such as medical staff, police, and delivery drivers. Vulnerable children including those “who have a social worker and those with educational health and care plans” will also still have access to schools.
