University of Alberta to Return Students to Campus in Fall 2021, With CombinedIn-Person & Remote Classes

The University of Alberta (U of A) is set to return students and staff to campus in the fall this year.

According to a press release, the university plans to hold over 80 percent of classes in-person and 20 percent remotely.

The university also notified students that the course plannings for fall 2021 are public, and they can start arranging their schedules, Erudera.com reports.

Vice President for U of A, Steven Dew, noted that the university looks forward to welcoming students back on-campus.

“The U of A remains committed to providing the best university experience possible and to prioritizing the health and safety of our community. We will continue to deliver quality teaching and research and to provide opportunities for campus connections, activities and experiences,” Dew said.

The university will also continue providing hybrid classes, acknowledging the flexibility those classes bring to students.

The Minister of Advanced Education warned all post-secondary institutions to prepare for a full return to in-person learning in fall 2021, on March 18.

Other Canadian universities have already announced their return to campus in the fall including, Concordia University, Northern and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, MacEwan University, which plans to “seamlessly transition between in-person and online delivery” while the University of Calgary has not determined a decision for fall classes 2021, yet.

The news will potentially excite all international students in Canada who have been locked out of their universities due to the pandemic and regulations against it.

The mandatory hotel stay that Canada set out as a preventive measure for possible transmission of COVID-19, imposed last month, has caused many overseas students to postpone or cancel their studies entirely.

According to Statistics Canada’s findings, the number of international students pursuing studies in Canada has dropped by 17 percent during last year, meaning international education has experienced a decline to 531,000 students by the end of 2020, from 639,000 in 2019.

Previously, Vancouver Island University (VIU) announced its plans to return all students and staff to campus in fall 2021, with plan programs for the year being published on April 26.

President Deborah Saucier shared the news in a letter directed to students weeks ago, saying that the combination of health and safety measures as well as rapid vaccination will enable the fall return to campus.

Universities in the US have also announced they will be returning to campus in the fall in compliance with rules and restrictions against COVID-19 for a safe and healthy environment. Many of them, including Brown University, Rutgers University, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton University, have required students to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to campus in the fall.