Social Distancing: Cambridge University Becomes First University In The World To Scrap All Face-To-Face Lectures For Full Year

Cambridge university has become the first university in the world to scrap all face-to-face lectures for a full year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Britain’s second oldest university made this huge decision because “social distancing is likely to continue for a long time.”

The university, which prides itself on high academic excellence, said lectures would continue virtually until summer 2021, DailyMail reports.

Cambridge university in a statement expressed that;

The university is constantly adapting to changing advice as it emerges during this pandemic.

Given that it is likely that social distancing will continue to be required, the university has decided there will be no face-to-face lectures during the next academic year.

It added;

Lectures will continue to be made available online and it may be possible to host smaller teaching groups in person, as long as this conforms to social distancing requirements. This decision has been taken now to facilitate planning, but as ever, will be reviewed should there be changes to official advice on coronavirus.

Before now, all teaching at the university had been moved online in March, while exams were being carried out virtually due to concerns over the safety of students.

Cambridge is the first to take such a dramatic step, although the University of Manchester had announced last week it would be going online for at least the first (autumn) semester. Universities will charge full fees while offering online courses.

Other universities, including Oxford, Edinburgh and Cardiff, are also planning a mixture of on-campus and remote lectures from the start of the academic year.