Universities are planning for the 2021/2022 academic year. Will students return to full-time education?

Universities in Poland are planning a new academic year. Most of them support decisions before the summer break and announce the return of students to full-time education in October, but it is already known that some classes will be away.

Carolina has just been accepted into cultural studies at the University of Warsaw. This is her second major, and she is also studying Polish Studies.

– So I have a comparison and I can’t imagine studying online. Do you not see the Sunnis and do not know them live? That’s not why I’m going the other way. I check the university website every now and then, for new messages and I’m afraid what the new school year will be like – he admits.
Ministry of Education and Science He announced the lifting of restrictions in universities, and in mid-August it is scheduled to cancel the regulation, which introduced, among other things, the possibility of conducting classes, exams or master’s defenses remotely. At the same time, the ministry assures: “In the event of an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Poland, it will be possible to re-impose restrictions.”

MEiN talks about both hybrid learning and last resort, i.e. all classes in remote mode.

Universities: the possibility of hybrid and distance learning

Most universities announced before the summer break that the new academic year will be full-time. After that, the number of coronavirus infections decreased, and there were several dozen new cases of Covid-19 every day. Despite this, the statistics have been increasing for several days, and experts are increasingly talking about the fourth wave of the epidemic.

– We do not change our plans, we want to start the academic year on a full-time basis, we want students to return to the university and to Krakow – admits Adrian Ochalik, spokesman for Jagiellonian University.

However, there are two cases. First of all, in the case of large subject areas, the deans will decide whether the lectures will be online. Secondly, with all the decrees, it is finally stated that everything depends on the development of the epidemiological situation in Poland.
Warsaw University students may be preparing to return to university. In September, university authorities announced merger meetings, but the final modus operandi also depends on the pandemic. The 2021/2022 academic year at the University of Lodz will, as a rule, be full-time. The President of the University of Lodz wrote in the last communication from the end of July that distance learning It will only be in “special cases”. It will also remain in force, inter alia, a distance of 1.5 meters between work stations or hand disinfection at the entrance to the premises. Foreign conferences and scholarships will return, but for every such trip, the scientist will have to get the final approval of the university’s president or deans. The University of Wrocław also supports the decision to return to full-time education, provided the lectures are co-educational or remotely.

Mixed mode was announced by Lodz University of Technology and we already know more details here. Classes, exercises, labs, seminars and physical education for groups of up to 30 people will be in full-time mode. Lectures and classes with groups larger than 30 people will be conducted remotely. Exams, exams and tickets must be taken in the same mode as the chapters covered by the exam. Students usually study two days a week remotely and three days on site.

Student and PhD ID cards will expire. when?

Students do not hide that they would like to know what awaits them from October. Most of them dream of returning to universities.

– I’ve never seen all the people of the year live, even on webcam, because we turned them off. We only contact us via Messenger and studies only. Over the past year, I have never been to university, and above all, I have the impression that I know nothing about the past year, and it is impossible to study in this way – says Magda, who began her studies at the University of Lodz a year ago.

High school graduates who will begin their studies in October are especially thinking about the new school year. Bartik arrives on the right at the University of Lodz. He did not rule out that if the classes were online, he would go to work, and only study in a year, to learn live.

– Now that I’m in, I may be sorry to give up, but I didn’t take remote lessons in high school, I need to connect with people, so I can’t imagine studying from behind a computer – he says.

For this reason, for example, still refrain from renting an apartment. The owners see similar situations.

– Normally, the boom was in July, and I was getting dozens of phone calls a day with questions about rent. “Now, if someone calls, they are basically medical students, because even if there are more infections, the classes mostly live here,” says Piotr, who rents five apartments in ód.

People from Rzeszów or Silesia, any of the other cities, mainly ask for rent.

Universities in Lodz mainly select young people from the region. Even if some of the classes are going to be online, I suspect the students won’t rent anything and they’ll move around – scared pewter.

However, he hopes more interest will start in September, when universities finally decide how they will operate. It was similar a year ago. However, the students are slowly returning to the dormitories.

– And here the interest is really high – says Oshalik from Jagiellonian University.

MEiN and universities also remind you of the validity of your student and doctoral ID cards. If we return to the static mode, the ID cards will be valid for another 60 days from the moment the restrictions are lifted. So if MEiN announces new rules in mid-August, as was announced, ID cards will expire on October 14. Therefore, at the beginning of the school year, students will have to beat them in the offices of the dean.