YORK University will deliver all lectures and seminars online for the entirety of the spring term, the Vice-Chancellor has confirmed.

Writing to students to outline plans following the national lockdown imposed by the Prime Minister on Monday, Vice-Chancellor Charlie Jeffrey said libraries, on-campus supermarkets and accommodation will all remain open. 

Most courses will be completely online - with some courses such as medicine continuing a blend of online and in-person learning.

The Vice-Chancellor said: "For those of you who are currently in York, already making the journey, or with travel and accommodation plans which can’t be changed, they say they are here to welcome and support you.

"You can continue with your plans as they are and they will update you with what we have put in place to keep you safe and keep your studies on track, including arrangements for your teaching and learning.

 “I’d like to reassure everyone that the University is not closed. Study spaces, the Library, accommodation, our on-campus supermarkets, on-campus catering (including takeaway service), and student support services all remain available.”

"If you have not yet made your way to York or are still making your travel plans, the University will fully support you to study online from your current residence.

“As we have said before, there are exceptions to the guidance in the Government message of ‘stay at home’ in the UK: students who feel their physical and mental wellbeing will be better served by returning to York may do so, and students who do not have adequate study facilities at home (eg good wifi, computer equipment or study space) may also return.”

For students in university-owned, managed or approved accommodation, staff will be in touch directly about the impact of this new guidance, including questions on rents. Professor Jeffery continues:

“For our international students starting your course in January, we will understand if you need to change plans to travel to York. We will fully support you to study online, or if you still wish to, and are able to join us, we look forward to welcoming you. For students awaiting booking information from Hainan Airlines, we will be in touch as soon as we have had an update from the airline on flights.”

Mr Jeffrey added: "To be clear, the Government has required us to change our teaching plans. Only a specific set of courses identified by the Government – at York these are Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery, PGCE courses in Education and Social Work – will start the term as we had planned, with a blend of online and in-person teaching.”

“The Government advises that we cannot allow students on other programmes to return to in-person teaching before mid-February at the earliest, and Government officials’ media appearances even this morning suggest a more realistic assessment is that this will be extended, likely into March and for us, through to the end of the term.”

“To offer some level of stability to our students, we have made the very difficult decision that all classroom-based teaching activity will be delivered online for the entirety of the Spring Term.

"We hope to be able to provide in-person teaching using specialist teaching spaces (eg lab and performance spaces), subject to further Government guidance, later in the term.

"We want to be upfront with you and offer you clarity and consistency for this whole term. This decision has not been taken lightly, as we know students have a preference for in-person teaching, but we also recognise the desire for a period of stability as we tackle the pandemic given the new variant of this virus and the need to support the national effort to suppress transmission.

"In addition, we know that some programmes in Sciences and Arts & Humanities are dependent on the use of specialist teaching spaces. We are exploring opportunities to prioritise the resumption of in-person teaching activities in these specialist spaces as soon as possible, again in line with health and safety considerations and UK Government guidance."