Minister Bruno Bruins sent a letter to parliament this evening. In it, he calls on universities and universities of applied sciences to only provide distance education with online alternatives until March 31. Shortly afterwards, the VSNU published the message that the universities are implementing this wherever possible. The UT crisis team sent an e-mail to employees earlier this evening.
Small-scale practical lessons
‘Tomorrow we will look at what exactly is logical and sensible’, says Van der Chijs. ‘We may be able to continue certain small-scale practical lessons next week. These days we are also looking into whether we can completely switch to digital education. We do this separately in each course. Of course we have been exploring options in recent days. The bandwidth at the UT can handle digital education, but we will have to make some adjustments here and there to switch completely.’
No more than a hundred people
The library, research facilities and canteens will remain open for the time being. ‘But we make sure that no more than a hundred people are gathered’, says Van der Chijs. ‘I also appeal to the common sense of colleagues. We will also look at room by room to see which measures are appropriate. For example, I can imagine that we only make the TechMed Center accessible to employees, because people who work in healthcare often come there.’ The sports activities in the Sports Center are also suspended.
Working from home
The crisis team is considering guidelines for working from home. ‘For now, we recommend anyone who can work from home in close consultation with colleagues to do so’, says Van der Chijs. ‘That may not be possible for everyone, because they don't have a laptop or iPad from the UT. We are purchasing that equipment at an accelerated pace, but it will take some time. Of course we hope the virus will be past its peak in one or two weeks, but we take note that it could take longer.’
