UC re-opening plan
· Staff progressive return confirmed.
· Students back from Wednesday 15 September
· Re-start of teaching delayed until Monday 20 September
In light of the significant aftershocks which occurred this morning (Wednesday 8 September), the University of Canterbury has assessed very carefully whether it should proceed with its planned re-opening on Monday 13 September.
Our key considerations have included:
• The impact of the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks on staff and students, and their families
• Confirmation of the structural soundness of buildings on campus
• Infrastructure support, including availability of water and waste water
• The general availability of childcare and schooling for the families of staff and students
• The requirement for us to deliver an effective, comprehensive and quality programme of teaching to our students
• Minimising stress on staff and students
Assuming there are no further significant aftershocks, we intend to proceed with a modified plan and phased approach as outlined below.
A specific announcement in relation to students in halls of residence will be made by 7:30pm today.
Phase one, this week, is the tightly controlled programme to allow staff to assist in the clean-up. Staff will be required to attend a briefing on the clean-up before they will be allowed into buildings. They will also be issued with Health and Safety guidelines, giving instructions on what they can and cannot do.
The schedule, which refers to buildings and not disciplines, is as follows:
Thursday 9 September at 12noon: Engineering including Forestry, Old Maths (excluding Erskine); Von Haast, Zoology, Biology and Communication Disorders (Briefing C1).
Friday 10 September at 9am: Geography; Gateway Antarctica; Psychology and Sociology; School of Law; English; History, Modern Languages; Erskine; Rutherford (Briefing C1).
Friday 10 September at 12noon: Fine Arts and Music (including houses); Social Work; Aotahi: Maori and Indigenous Studies; Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies; Registry (Briefing C1).
Friday 10 September at 1.30pm: College of Education, Dovedale campus (Briefing Jack Mann Auditorium).
Please note the College of Business and Economics clean-up will still be carried out on Friday 10 September, starting at 12noon. The PVC of Business and Economics will contact staff directly.
From Monday 13 September there will be a staged opening of the campus (including the College of Education) for staff only, for the purpose of final clean-up and preparation of teaching materials.
On Wednesday 15 September the campus will be opened for all students. The library and computer labs at the College of Education will be operational for all UC students. Student support services, study space and advice will be available for all students at the UCSA building.
A curfew will be in place from 6pm to 6am until Friday 17 September, unless relaxed earlier.
On Monday 20 September we intend to resume lectures and delivery of all teaching programmes, including College of Education programmes.
This phased approach applies to all UC, College of Education, Foundation Studies, CUP, Certificate of ETS, Bridging Programmes and EAP students.
The James Hight building has been certified as structurally sound. However, the collapse of book stacks on all floors means it will not be available for accessing books for the remainder of this semester. Access to lockers in the James Hight building will be available from Wednesday 15 September. Alternative study space will be made available at the College of Education, UCSA and other spaces around campus.
The consequences of today's decision on the delivery of programmes and assessment processes and timing are now being worked through by the Senior Management Team and will be communicated by Monday 13 September.
On behalf of the Senior Management Team I would like to acknowledge the widespread support the University is receiving from our staff and students, whose interests are driving our recovery efforts.
Dr Rod Carr
Vice-Chancellor