University Canada West is preparing for a full return to campus for the Fall (October) 2021 Term.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming students back to campus,” said Brock Dykeman, UCW President and Vice-Chancellor. “Following the advice of BC’s Public Health Officer and the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, we plan to reopen our campuses in a safe and responsible manner to ensure the safety of our students, faculty and staff.”
UCW is implementing several safety measures for the Fall Term, including bringing back Student Health Ambassadors and keeping masks mandatory in all classrooms and common areas. Students are expected to stay home/isolate if they are feeling sick or experience flu-like symptoms.
Also, the University is strongly encouraging all students, faculty and staff to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus.
“Being vaccinated is one of the biggest things you can do to protect yourself and the rest of the UCW Community,” said President Dykeman.
The COVID-19 vaccine is available, free of charge, to everyone living in British Columbia, including international students.
For more information about registering to get vaccinated, visit BC’s COVID-19 vaccine website.
All students with study permits are expected to be in Vancouver and attend on-campus classes, with the exception of students unable to travel or those with underlying health conditions. For each course, each week, there will be two hours of on-campus instruction, in addition to two hours of independent activities.
Students with underlying health conditions, students subject to travel restrictions, or those who have not yet received a visa or study permit, will be able to take hybrid online classes. These classes will consist of two hours of synchronous online classes and two hours of independent coursework for each course.
UCW will also continue to offer fully online courses, which can be done asynchronously. The first day of classes for the Fall 2021 Term is Oct. 12.
“This is a very exciting time for our students,” said President Dykeman. “We know they’re going to be thrilled with our state-of-the-art Vancouver House Campus and the new student spaces we have created to optimize the learning environment.”
In addition, we would like to inform you that the upcoming Fall 2021 term will take place from October 12 – December 19, which means you will be participating in a 10-week term instead of the usual 12-week term. The Winter 2021 term had a delayed start due to COVID, which meant that all following terms were pushed forward making our Fall Term shorter than usual. We do not expect that this will happen again in the future. The 10-week term will consist of 9 weeks of instruction and one week of review/exams/assessments. Please mark the dates in your calendar and connect with your professors if you have any questions or need support throughout the term.
