Several EIT programmes are moving online for the foreseeable future as a precautionary measure in an evolving COVID-19 environment.
This decision covers the Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti and Auckland campuses as well as the Regional Learning Centres and comes in the wake of a confirmed COVID-19 case on the Hawke’s Bay campus earlier this month and the move to Phase 2 of the Governments response to Omicron . Contingency plans have also been put in place in the event of future confirmed cases. Vaccine passes are required on all campuses and the wearing of masks is mandatory.
EIT Chief Executive Chris Collins said the move to online was a proactive response to the latest COVID-19 threat.
“Recently we have seen Omnicom cases numbers locally and nationally increases rapidly which saw the introduction of Phase 2 of the government’s response to Omicron, and we also had our first active case on the Hawke’s Bay Campus.”
“ EIT has met the COVID-19 challenge at each step with a primary focus on the safety of our staff and learners.”
Mr Collins said that after consultation with the Faculty Deans, he had requested them to work with Heads of Schools and Programme Coordinators to transition programmes, where appropriate, to either fully or partially online as soon as possible.
“The intent of this action is to decrease the number of learners on campus and congregating together. This action complements the planning that has been occurring across the institution to enable staff to work remotely or with fewer interaction while on campus.”
Mr Collins said that his expectation was that not all programmes could, but in those that were able to, cohorts of returning students (second and third year degree students for example) should be prioritised over new students.
“It is important that our focus remains to creating the best learning experience possible while recognising the current COVID-19 environment,” he said.
“By acting now, I hope we can decrease the risk to both staff and students so to enable delivery to continue with less disruption.
More information about EIT’s COVID-19 response can be found on our website, www.eit.ac.nz.