Western University has announced it will delay the start of the winter term, and switch to more online classes in January.
On Friday, the presidents of Western, Brescia, Huron, and King’s University colleges issued a joint statement announcing the start of the term will be pushed back until Jan. 10 , and most classes will stay online until the end of January.
However, officials noted some professional programs and clinical learning in health sciences and medicine will begin in person as of Jan. 4.
“We continue to make decisions as quickly as we can, based on the information that we have about the shifting nature of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the statement.
“What we know right now is that Omicron will continue to impact our region, and January may prove to be difficult in our community and across the country.”
The university will remain closed over the holidays for an extra day until Tuesday, Jan. 4. Students who live in residence are being urged to delay their return, where possible, until in-person learning resumes.
Get daily National news
Officials also urged students to keep their gatherings small over the winter break.
“We know this is hard. The shift back to online learning, if only for a few weeks, is not our ideal scenario, but we hope this preemptive measure sets us up for success in seeing out the academic year.”
Earlier this week, Western announced that it was moving exams online as a precautionary measure.
- Alcohol sales in Canada just saw ‘largest’ annual drop since tracking began
- ‘Buy Canadian’ policy likely to cost taxpayers $12 billion yearly: study
- ‘A foreign policy based on short memory’: Carney continues push to diversify from the U.S.
- Alberta’s premier consulting on scrapping clock changes, prefers more light at night
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.