Not all colleges closing

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 4:05pm #1

Hi ya

Has anyone else been advised by their university that they are not closing? Very confusing.

spurious · 12-03-2020 4:23pm

I would have thought any state owned ones are shut, any run by ETBs etc.. I suppose private colleges can do what they like, but I'm not sure their insurance cover would be valid if the government have said shut schools and colleges.

Have you just not heard from the college, or have you contacted them and they still don't know what is happening?

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 4:26pm

no I work for a public university and we have received an email advising staff that we are open as normal. No classes but everything else is open as normal. This is a large public university. Maybe there are exceptions to this rule.

granturismo · 12-03-2020 4:48pm

'teaching and student attendance on campus will now be suspended' does not mean stay at home, staff are expected to work unless ill, taking care of family or self isolating.

jrmb · 12-03-2020 5:57pm

I'm working in a private, full-time language school for adults and courses have been frozen for two weeks.

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 6:32pm

ok ill be clearer - the campuses themselves are not closing.

TheValeyard · 12-03-2020 6:40pm

gauchesnell wrote: »

ok ill be clearer - the campuses themselves are not closing.

Same as the schools. Classes have been suspended for two weeks but the building is open if staff wish to work in it

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 6:47pm

confusing situation to be honest. I will contact my union. Notice from union is that the only staff to only those responsible for work that is essential will be required to work. email to staff from president advises all campuses open as normal.

My only concern would be catching the virus and spreading it...not looking for a couple of weeks off.

mirrorwall14 · 12-03-2020 7:51pm

Our ETB has school building open with admin/caretaking staff Teachers my come in to work or can manage classes digitally from home

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 8:09pm

yeah I dont like that like attitude at all. Just watched rte news and the news is appalling but also misleading. I work in a large public university and we are not closing. Unclear yet as to whether staff have to go in. Misleading to say colleges are closed. They are not. Campuses and facilities are still open the staff are still expected to work. I use public transport to get to work and work in a very large university.

Dont know anyone who thinks this time is a holiday time. Catching and spreading the disease is the only concern. 27 new cases is a huge jump.

Confusing time.

Pacifico · 12-03-2020 8:19pm

Yeah misleading to say the least! I wonder what the unions would have to say about it?

Darwin · 12-03-2020 8:23pm

Ok, here's the clarification I got from my local TUI branch - the email below was sent from the Department of Education itself:

Dear all,

In respect of further queries raised this afternoon by Management Bodies and Union Officials please see a clarification from the Department below:

Schools, Further Education Centres and Higher Education Institutions are closed for students from 6pm on Thursday March 12th, and all staff are encouraged to work from home per the advice from Health officials. However, Schools, Further Education Centres and Higher Education Institutions should be available to staff if they wish to access the facilities in order to provide online delivery, or essential services once this is in line with HSE advice on social distancing etc. Local Management should consider how to manage this access in order to comply with the advice of health officials.

Edit: here's the source:

https://www.tui.ie/news/additional-clarification-from-department-of-education-and-skills-on-closure-of-schools-colleges-and-centres-.13707.html

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 8:29pm

super thanks I am waiting for my own union to advise. My own university campuses remain open for staff and students to access should they wish to. There is no blanket closure. All our buildings remain open and available to anyone. Certain areas are closed e.g. library but staff remain available by email and phone.

Still waiting on my own union to advise - all universities and colleges are not closed though.

Pacifico · 12-03-2020 8:34pm

Yeah sound like none are closed. Only to students.

appledrop · 12-03-2020 8:41pm

I'm with Forsa + we received a very good document on this.

Basically all staff in 3rd level institutions will cease classes with students but also that you should be encouraged to work from home + should not be asked to physically go into work.

Yes building etc might stay open if staff need it but you shouldn't be being told you must go into the building. You need to contact your union.

Steve456 · 12-03-2020 8:46pm

Pacifico wrote: »

Yeah sound like none are closed. Only to students.

UCC are definitely closed - nearly all staff are forbidden to come in, are expected to arrange online teaching from home.

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 8:53pm

im forsa too...just waiting on reply. Seems to vary per university. Trinity is still open despite 2 cases.

They didnt know when i queried it. Students can still attend my university tomorrow as buildings are open. We have a lot of international students and they will use the free classrooms as study spaces and I dont blame them.

Hopefully they will be clarity soon. A lot of pressure on our buildings staff though who have been doing terrific work to keep buildings clean. That blanket statement saying colleges closed annoyed me as it is incorrect- they are not. My university is open.

appledrop · 12-03-2020 8:56pm

Just go onto forsa website all the details are there.

Basically no staff in education sector should be attending work physically unless say a caretaker to check on building.

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 9:06pm

nope thats incorrect. my university is open tomorrow...no classes but and certain offices closed but everything else running as normal. Im in forsa and they dont have final word yet. Some campus facilities are closed but otherwise everything is normal. Not all universities are closed. Go check TCD website. It varies. Im not in TCD.

Libaries in certain universities are open tomorrow. Not a full closure at all.

appledrop · 12-03-2020 9:14pm

Well that's not the advice from forsa on website so I'd be printing that off + presenting it to you manager etc if you are getting hassle to come into work.

It very clearly says that all education staff should be facilitated to work remotely.

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 9:18pm

ah no waiting on forsa myself. I have written to my rep. every university is different and if we are open staff must go in. Ive had a quick trawl of some other universities and some are remaining open. Its just a scary time that all...not like I dont want to go into work. Our campuses are open and we are not the only ones....so staff go into work.

There is confusing and misleading info out there thats all. Universities and colleges are not all closed. Campus buildings are open. We are not the only ones

Steve456 · 12-03-2020 9:30pm

From uni websites:

DCU - no on-site teaching, but campus not shut - "DCU staff will be notified of specific working arrangements in an email that will be issued later today" (https://www.dcu.ie/coronavirus/index.shtml)

Galway - closed to all staff and students (http://www.nuigalway.ie/alert/)

Maynooth - no on-site teaching, but campus not shut - "Research students and staff who need access to campus facilities will continue to be able to do so, unless advised otherwise by the Head of Department. Most campus buildings will remain open." (https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/coronavirus)

Limerick - closed to all staff and students (https://www.ul.ie/latest-advice-all-ul-community-%C2%A0coronavirus-covid-19)

Trinity - closed to non-resident students but otherwise open (https://www.tcd.ie/about/coronavirus/)

TUD - no on-site teaching, staff arrangements very unclear from website (https://tudublin.ie/covid19/)

UCC - closed to all staff and students (https://www.ucc.ie/en/emt/covid19/)

UCD - unclear from website, though campus clearly not completely shut (see http://collegetribune.ie/ucd-moves-online-for-remainder-of-year-amid-covid-19-university-closures/)

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 9:35pm

super thanks...campuses not shut. Certain university libraries and facilities remain open. Varies per university.

Universities and colleges are not closed.

Pacifico · 12-03-2020 10:15pm

Most ITs are open to staff. Maybe staff are immune to the virus?

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 10:28pm

maybe we are

...only IT staff and staff in certain universities.

my union sent an update. Apparently my university is the only university requiring non essential/non critical staff to attend work despite government advice. Wonderful.

appledrop · 12-03-2020 10:36pm

gauchesnell wrote: »

maybe we are ...only IT staff and staff in certain universities.

my union sent an update. Apparently my university is the only university requiring non essential/non critical staff to attend work despite government advice. Wonderful.

Ridiculous get your union to challenge them on it.

If that's doesnt work contact all your local T.Ds.

I bet they wont be long changing their mind.

gauchesnell · 12-03-2020 10:45pm

yeah Id wait and see. Nasty stuff really.I will follow Union advice myself. The update from the Union contained some nasty allegations from the management of the university.

University is still open tomorrow. Im in a union - a lot of non essential staff arent and will be in work tomorrow along with students.

CramCycle · 13-03-2020 1:01am

UCD is still open if you read the email from Deeks, apparently so are all the buildings and cafes. Interestingly, all the cafe staff say they are not in tomorrow, and most staff say they will not be in. Deeks has went the way of being particularly vague and sending out an email saying nothing has changed in the morning but he is having a meeting. Then after the meeting he sent round a mail saying you should work and come in if necessary but do what you want really.
What he really meant was he doesn't want to shut the campus because he knows their contingency planning is awful and they cannot deliver online lectures at a reasonable standard at short notice and if he sends people home they have the excuse to not follow through. It is shambolic.
I am currently discussing with academic staff/principal investigators who really have no concept of the issues, Their students will be fine, it is the people they infect when they leave that are the issue but they all insist that they should continue working as per usual.
Hopefully the stern words I will be sending around tomorrow will resonate as I will be locking out the student access cards on H&S grounds tomorrow evening, muppetry at UMT level be damned.

gauchesnell · 13-03-2020 4:35pm

quick update...been in work all day. Some universities and colleges are not closed. We are definitely not

Pacifico · 13-03-2020 9:40pm

How are some universities open to staff and others closed? Is this decision made at local college management level?

Steve456 · 13-03-2020 9:51pm

Pacifico wrote: »

How are some universities open to staff and others closed? Is this decision made at local college management level?

Yes, there's a lot of local autonomy. And so long as there aren't significant numbers of students on campus any more, there's no reason why the government would care exactly what each institution does.

Different unis and colleges are in different positions - they differ in how many students they have in on-campus, and some are better prepared to do on-line teaching than others are.

Not all colleges closing

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