Cambrian College has announced it has cancelled classes next week, and will be moving classes online starting the week after that until the end of the semester.
The college's president, Bill Best, issued a statement Friday afternoon about Cambrian’s plans in light of the spread of COVID-19.
With a goal of contributing to social distancing, and in keeping with the government’s decision to close Ontario’s public elementary and secondary schools until April 6, all in-person classes at Cambrian are suspended for one week, beginning Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20, said the statement.
Existing online courses will continue as usual.
Remote or alternate delivery of instruction will begin Monday, March 23 for all students.
Best's statement said the college will be taking the next week to determine how to approach the practical delivery of lab instruction, keeping in mind the importance of social distancing.
Lab instruction will be re-introduced during the week of March 23.
By adopting this approach, students will be able to finish the semester on schedule by April 24, with no official exam week, the statement said.
“We will be developing alternate final assessments to ensure completion of program outcomes,” said the statement.
“As a post-secondary system and as a society, we are dealing with a rapidly evolving global pandemic, and the health and safety of our campus community is our top priority,” Best said, in the statement.
“Our plan is to finish the semester safely, albeit differently.”
Cambrian’s campuses — including our residence, library, student space, computer labs, food services, and other service areas — will remain open, with limited access on weekends.
The fitness centre and gym will be closed, except for academic purposes only.
Staff and faculty members are asked to continue to report to work as usual, though the college said it will be reviewing its plan over the coming days, and will be implementing flexible work arrangements to the extent possible.
You can read Best's full statement online here.
We've also reached out to Sudbury's other college, Collège Boréal, to see if they're planning to take similar measures.
Laurentian University announced earlier this week that it was moving its classes online indefinitely.
