Universities to maintain online teaching until September

The Irish government’s latest plan to bring the country out of lockdown contains no specific target dates for a return to lecture halls, meaning that on-campus teaching in the country is unlikely to resume this year, writes Lenny Antonelli for Research Professional News.

Under the government’s plan, titled ‘The Path Ahead’ and published recently, campus teaching would only resume at level three and below of the plan’s five restriction tiers. With the country set to remain under level five restrictions until 5 April at the earliest, online education looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

The plan acknowledges that “the window to return to onsite delivery is narrowing for the current academic year”. However, the plan, which is an update on previous ones, notes a “growing gap created by lack of access to onsite learning and experience”. It states that the current situation is likely to exacerbate the education disadvantage experienced by people from marginalised groups.
Full report on the Research Professional News site