Aberdeen Uni suspends all face to face teaching because of coronavirus

All lectures will be moved online from 6PM


All lectures, seminars and tutorials at Aberdeen University have been suspended following advice from the Scottish Government.

In an email sent to all students, it was announced all face to face teaching would end from 6pm today, while the University will remain open. It has also been recommended that AUSA events such as balls are to be cancelled till a later date.

From Monday, arrangements will be made to encourage social distancing. This will include staff meeting being held over MS Teams, and Heads of School and Directors making arrangements for working from home.

Stock image via SWNS

The full email reads: “The health, safety and wellbeing of our community is paramount, which is why the University is escalating its efforts to mitigate the consequences of Coronavirus COVID-19.

“In line with current advice from the Scottish and UK Governments, the University will remain open and continue to deliver learning and teaching and undertake our other activities. We have, however, decided that the time has now come for the University to suspend face to face teaching.

“This will have profound implications for our work as a community over the coming weeks, but we feel that this is the right thing to do at this time. It gives us a better chance of reducing the risk of the spread of coronavirus among staff and students.

“The University is suspending all face to face undergraduate and taught postgraduate teaching activities across our Aberdeen campuses from 6pm today (Friday, 13 March). We have been preparing for this for some time, and now feel that we are able to take this step while ensuring that learning and assessment for our students can be continued effectively.

“For the avoidance of doubt this means that all face to face teaching activity – including but not limited to lectures, tutorials, laboratory classes, seminars, computer lab sessions – will not take place from this evening. Schools will be in touch with students by 3pm on Monday by MyAberdeen and via email with details of how online learning, assessment and exams for each discipline will be delivered. Students should therefore not turn up for classes on Monday and should wait until then to hear from their Schools.

“Undergraduate and postgraduate taught students are now free to travel home, if they wish to do so. We recognise, however, that some students may be unable or unwilling to travel at this time. The Aberdeen campuses remain open, including the Sir Duncan Rice Library and other libraries and computer classrooms, to allow students who need study space to be able to continue to study on campus. Halls of residence will also remain open. We will be making some changes to the way our catering facilities and student facing services operate.

“From Monday onwards measures will progressively be put in place to enable the community to maintain social distancing, for example asking staff to conduct meetings online via MS teams. Heads of School and Directors also have the authority to make arrangements for home working where appropriate.

This follows an email recommending suspending all AUSA events such as balls and social gatherings.