Staff Reporter
The University of the Free State (UFS) has cancelled examinations for the first semester which were set to start in May due to the national lockdown ordered by the government to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
In a statement, the university said its academic programme for the first semester will be completed through online studies starting Monday, April 20, and that assignments will be used to assess learning as no examinations will be written.
“The majority of the first-semester modules will be completed online . . . all assignments will be used to assess learning, with no examinations,” UFS rector and vice-chancellor Professor Francis Petersen said.
He said to prepare students for the new initiative, a 10-day online transition and orientation programme will run from April 20-30.
The vice-chancellor said modules with laboratory-based, studio-based, clinical-based, or community-engagement requirements will be re-organised.
Specific arrangements will be made for students set to do formal community engagements, including clinical training, teaching practice and work-integrated learning.
Examinations in the form of continuous online assessment will then take place from August 3-22.
The he third quarter will commence on August 31 with a blend of online and face-to-face classes.
Petersen said the UFS, like other universities across the world, has become aware of how challenging and complex the COVID-19 reality is, hence it became imperative to find urgent alternatives to complete its academic programmes.
“It has become increasingly clear that uncertainty will be with us in many of our daily activities for a significant part of 2020,” he said.
“It is within this changing environment that the university has been planning carefully for various academic scenarios to ensure the continuation and completion of the 2020 academic programme.”
Petersen said the university management was aware that some students may struggle to connect, and that students and staff need to learn and teach in a new way.
“The online transition and orientation period will allow both staff and students to get acquainted with a new online learning environment; enable both staff and students to re-establish a new way of communication, relationships, and interaction to optimise learning and teaching; and provide the university with an opportunity to assess challenges in the move to online teaching, including determining the level of connectivity, access to devices and other challenges experienced by students, and to use this period to resolve these challenges,” he explained.
It remains unclear whether the national lockdown will be partially or fully lifted after April 30.
“Depending on the decision by the national government, students will be informed how their return to campus will take place – keeping in mind that social distancing and a small number of students on campus will have to apply,” Petersen said.
The UFS said it was collaborating with Universities South Africa for more educational websites to be zero-rated so that students can access them for free.
“It has been agreed that some sites will be zero-rated in the short term and that students will be provided with a 10-GB, 30-day data bundle,” Petersen said.