The Prime Minister has just announced the details of what life will look like under Alert Level 2 – once we move there – a summary of which you can see on the Government’s COVID-19 website. Although she didn’t give any further indication of when we can expect to move to Alert Level 2, the Prime Minister did indicate that it may be a phased approach, rather than a single step. An announcement about timing will be made on Monday 11 May 2020.
In terms of our sector, tertiary education institutions can re-open further under Alert Level 2. It’s likely that we’ll continue with some provision of online teaching and learning, especially given the strict guidelines around social distancing, and health and safety measures that will need to be in place.
Our Academic Recovery Committee and Incident Management Team are currently working with Schools, supporting our teaching staff in carrying out practical on-site teaching and learning that is critical for students to be able to complete courses. We expect more practical-based learning to occur under a move to Alert Level 2, and we’ll release more information once timing becomes more clear. Our Student President will be updating all students in the coming days, too.
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone back on campus just as soon as we’re able, acknowledging that as we move away from our current remote working situation to a more ‘business as usual’ way of working, we’ll continue to adhere to the strict Health and Safety guidelines we have in place. As always, the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students remains our key priority.
For more information on Tertiary Education under Alert Level 2, please see here.
Thank you Unitec for the care you have taken of our students. Thank you too for the constant updates and helping us to be able to continue to deliver our programmes if at all possible. I would like to put a thought in for our incredible cleaners, some who have been here 16 years- cleaning our canteens and toilets and always happy to help. It is going to be an extra strain on them in the return to work. Although we obviously can not demand consideration of a decent wage for them, I would like to think that Unitec ensures contracted hours that are realistic for them to achieve the extra cleaning that will be required to maintain a high standard of hygiene.
Thanks Yo. The cleaning team along with maintenance teams and contractors have been on site since the start of level 3 undertaking R&M, scheduled work, and preparing spaces for our staff and learners.
In March City Cleaning took over all of the cleaning across campus including the washrooms that were previously done by Alsco and have been doing an excellent job. We are very conscious of the work they do for us, and have a very open and collaborative relationship, when work loads increase or decrease we work closely together to manage this.