Sheffield Uni temporarily moves teaching online after rise in Covid cases
Almost a thousand students have tested positive at both universities
The University of Sheffield will temporarily move all of its teaching online this week after the number of staff and students who've tested positive for coronavirus soared.
583 students and 6 staff currently have the virus, taking the total to 962 cases connected to universities across the city.
A spokesperson from the University of Sheffield, said:
“In response to the increase in Covid-19 cases in the city and within our University community, the number of our students self-isolating and the likelihood of more stringent local measures being implemented shortly, we have taken the precautionary measure to temporarily suspend face-to-face teaching (with the exception of clinical teaching) between Friday 9 October and Sunday 18 October, with face-to-face teaching resuming from Monday 19 October.
"“The safety of our students and staff is our utmost priority and we will continue to regularly review our safety measures and teaching arrangements to ensure they are in line with evolving guidance, including using this transition period to put in place additional risk mitigation measures that will allow for the resumption of face-to-face teaching."
It comes after calls from the lecturers union UCU for the university to make the move to full online teaching after the rise in cases.
The spokesperson continued:
“Our campus services and facilities, such as student support, the libraries and cafes, will remain open, and our clinical teaching and research will continue.
“The hard work of our staff across the University to prepare the best teaching and learning resources for our students, and to enable transition between both face-to-face teaching and digital teaching methods, have made it possible for us to continue to provide the high quality education our students expect from us.
“Students have told us about the benefits of learning together on campus and we will be working hard to resume these activities, whilst limiting the number of people on campus and keeping the risk of infection to a minimum.
“We are thankful to all our staff and students for their efforts to follow government guidelines and for continuing to play their part in keeping our University community as safe as possible."