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Tēnā koutou
As we heard from the Prime Minister a short time ago, the country will be moving from Alert Level 4 to Alert Level 3 from 11.59pm on Monday 27 April. We will remain at Alert Level 3 for at least two weeks, to be reviewed on Monday 11 May.
Please see the Golden Rules for Life at Alert Level 3 as detailed on the COVID-19 website.
As outlined, the key directive is that people are required to work from home unless that’s not possible, and that all teaching, learning and other activities should be done remotely wherever possible.
This means the majority of our staff and students will continue teaching, studying and working from home for the duration of Alert Level 3. There are some exceptions to this, including some on-campus research that has to be done on site and some practical hands-on learning, such as trades courses, where the learning can happen in small groups with appropriate physical distancing. In this case, class sizes will be limited to 10 people or less (including a teacher).
Courses where close contact is unavoidable, including large classes or gatherings of more than 10 people, will remain online.
What does this mean for us?
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A limited number of courses across some of our Schools will be taught on campus from Wednesday 29 April as part of a phased approach to on-site learning, but with strict guidelines around class sizes, physical distancing and maintenance of ‘bubbles’. These guidelines will be communicated directly to those staff and students affected |
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Teaching staff for these courses will be allowed on campus, as well as a small number of Security, Health & Safety, Infrastructure and IT staff, as well as some of our building contractors engaged in refurbishing buildings. All other staff should continue working from home |
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Both our campuses will remain closed until further notice to everyone but the students and teachers outlined above. This includes Te Puna, the library, cafes, Copy Centre and Sports Centre |
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Te Puna Waiora will remain open, but consultations are virtual. Please note that Te Puna Waiora is no longer a COVID-19 testing centre |
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Student accommodation will remain open and will continue to provide appropriate support to allow students to self-isolate, as required |
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Vulnerable people should not carry out any on-site work or learning. We will be identifying and contacting relevant staff and students |
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Workplace-based learning is subject to the policies and practices being applied to that type of workplace |
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Teaching plans
In the meantime, we’re continuing with our detailed planning around timetabling and facilities management for teaching in an Alert Level 3 environment. As laid out last week, staff who teach courses that can be conducted remotely should continue with planning for online delivery. If you teach classes where there needs to be a degree of on-campus learning, Te Puna Ako and Te Korowai Kahurangi will be in touch with you shortly to plan what can be achieved across your courses.
Student communication
We’ll be communicating with our students this Friday 24 April an outline of what their learning and assessments will look like from next Tuesday 28 April through until the end of May. We would ask that you do not send individualised communications to your students as we will be communicating centrally, in order to ensure consistency and to avoid any confusion. If you hear of students who have queries, please refer them to unitecstudents@unitec.ac.nz or Student Services on 0800 10 75 10.
We know you’ll have questions around today’s news and we’ll continue to keep you posted on a regular basis as further information comes to hand. In the meantime, we deeply appreciate all that you’re doing to prioritise the needs of our students and to keep our business running smoothly at this challenging time. I would encourage you to check the COVID-19 and Ministry of Education websites where you’ll find more specifics on living and working under Alert Level 3.
Look after yourselves and your whānau.
Ngā mihi
Merran Davis
Interim Chief Executive
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