While nothing is set in stone right now, University of Saskatchewan’s (USask) president said the way fall 2021 courses are delivered will depend on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the province.
“It’s likely going to depend on the distribution of vaccines, on the efficacy of vaccines, on the longevity of vaccines – almost all the decisions that we will be making will be dependent on that,” Peter Stoicheff said.
Most of the university’s 26,000 students have been learning remotely since March 2020, with the exception of health sciences courses including medicine and dentistry.
Stoicheff said health of students and faculty was and continues to be a priority and is the reason in-person classes were cancelled.
The fall 2020 semester was the first for many students to be done completely remote.
Students have been giving their feedback, and Stoicheff said they can fix some issues they may have had. He’s encouraging students to stay optimistic
“Although the face-to-face instruction and the other values of face-to-face community at a university such as ours are not there, they will return,” he said.
There will be announcement for spring and summer courses early in the new year and will most likely still be remote.
“Very few of us doubt that it would be anything but a continuation of what we’re looking at in the winter term,” Stoicheff said.
As for the fall 2021 semester, Stoicheff said a decision will be made late in the spring, and the university will continue to assess the impact of the novel coronavirus in Saskatchewan.
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