‘It’s been a busy summer’: Acadia University prepares for challenging academic year

Nova Scotia’s post-secondary institutions are gearing up for an academic year they say will bring challenges they’ve never faced before.

While the majority of Nova Scotia universities are moving their lectures entirely online, Acadia, along with St. Francis Xavier University, will also be offering in-person classes.

“We were being very patient about making those decisions over the summer,” said Scott Duguay, Acadia University vice-provost for students. “The more information we had about COVID-19, the more we felt we could make strong decisions about what we should be doing in the fall.”

Duguay says surveys were conducted with students and staff in May, and the “overwhelming” response was that they wanted to return to campus.

“It helped us, I think, in establishing a good context to do our planning for the fall,” he said. “So it’s been a busy summer.”

And those plans will result in some significant changes for students and staff.

The date for classes to begin has been pushed back two weeks to Sept. 21 to ensure anyone who has to self-isolate upon entering Atlantic Canada has time to do so. Students who need to quarantine are being asked to return to campus no later than Sept. 5, while the rest will return Sept. 19 and 20.

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Duguay says move-in day at residences also won’t look quite the same. Though they’re going to try and replicate the same environment, parents won’t be allowed to come in and out of the buildings.

“We’ve kind of bubbled the residences, so we’ll have students from that same residence get their things up in the room,” he said. “Those kinds of decisions were made to limit the exposure to different risks.”

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There will also no longer be double rooms. The university is planning for about 1,000 students to live in residence come fall, compared to the approximately 1,300 in years past.

“For us, it’s not too too bad. It’s still important to the university, but it’s not as drastic as what other institutions might face.”

It’s also been a busy few months for student advocates. Students Nova Scotia executive director Clancy McDaniel says it’s been difficult planning for a school year with all this uncertainty.

“For us, as a student advocacy organization, we kicked it into high gear to really look both to the province as well with our federal counterparts for supports for students,” said McDaniel.

McDaniel notes that online learning can be tricky for students.

“Some folks do not necessarily learn the best in that type of environment,” said McDaniel. “I know we heard a lot from students at the end of the semester because professors were scrambling to get content online and it kind of left a sour taste in their mouths.”

For Samantha Graham, vice-president external with the Saint Mary’s University Students’ Association, the biggest issue for students is around safety.

“What we’re hearing most from students is, how do I stay safe in the city? How do I stay safe if my counterparts for classwork want to get together?” Graham said, adding that many of those concerns will be addressed in a video with Nova Scotia chief public health officer Dr. Robert Strang.

“The biggest thing for us right now is how do we educate students about how to be an online learner, how to succeed in their education come September when they are online.”