HigherEd’s Week in Covid-19 #1: What happens to the Class of 2020?
This past week, as classes conclude, many higher education institutions announced new measures on graduation ceremonies and spring/summer session classes.
1. Spring/Summer Classes Delivered Remotely
Since the risks of the pandemic remains high in the next few months, possibly, most universities and colleges have also decided to change the delivery format for spring and summer classes to remote delivery.
So far, most sessions at least up until June 2020 have been moved online except clinical rotations and clinical courses.
2. What happens to class of 2020?
Under strict social distancing rules, many universities have had to make amendments to graduation ceremonies, which are normally gatherings of hundreds or thousands of students and their families coming from all over the world. As we shall see here, different campuses are making different decisions.
Virtual Ceremonies:
A few universities have announced that they will be holding virtual ceremonies to celebrate the class of 2020. University of Toronto in Canada, for example, will celebrate the occassion virtually this spring, and gather in-person a year later. Whilst the platforms of these events remains unknown, some students might be happy to see efforts comparable to Florida State University, whose team assembled a Second Life interactive ceremony for their distance learning students graduating in 2010.
Cancellation and Postponement:
Some institutions like UPEI have announced that they’ll cancel scheduled graduation ceremonies but award degrees at senate meetings. Imperial College London also decided to cancel their postgraduate ceremony, usually an exciting affair held at the Royal Albert Hall.
Luckily, some still, are postponing the celebration to deliberate on alternative formats. New York University in the USA, for example, postponed commencement for its graduating class to further dates to be determined, and York University in Canada is considering merging the Fall and Spring ceremonies.
Along with ceremonies, gone are also senior’s events usually welcomed in late April, usually involving fun activities like last lectures by a favourite professor, and pranks on the school presidents have taken a backseat. As April progresses, councils in different campuses are looking for creative ways to build their last memories of their undergraduate years.
Some others like Wagner College, a private liberal arts college in New York City, are gathering ideas for a viable format for the celebrations. The President of Wagner College, who decided to postpone his own inauguration to next year, wrote a heart warming message to the Class of 2020 while inviting students and staff to contribute ideas for an alternative convocation format.
Alternative formats:
Business Breakthrough University (BBT), an institution in Tokyo, Japan, held a robot-assisted graduation ceremony for their students. During the ceremony, iPad-connected robots took the place of graduating students as they strolled across the room to collect their certificates.
3. Admissions
As spring approaches, many students are deciding where they’d end up in the fall. In the United Kingdom, most admissions events like Offer Holders Event and Opening Evening which are typically held in late March/early April have been cancelled.
Prospective students will have opportunities to learn about the campus and its offering through online engagement, but not many has popularised complete roll-out plans. We will keep you updated when we hear interesting arrangements!
Are you a prospective student for 2020 entry and beyond?
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