[BLOG] Summer resits also fully online

• Update 29 May, 2:24 PM
  A petition against online proctoring (monitoring of students during exams with their own webcams and microphones) at TU Delft has been signed over one thousand times. Sebastian Dumbrava, student of computer science and engineering, started the petition. He and other students are concerned about what RPNow, the American company that supplies TU Delft with online proctoring software, will do with their data, as well as about hackers stealing their data. “This petition calls for finding more privacy-respecting alternatives of assessment”, they write. Examples are alternative assignments such as essay-writing, time-limited exams, oral interviews and open-book exams. The usage of their data is not all the students worry about. They also fear study delays. “As students, we are forced to partake in more exams than usual at the end of this academic year due to the faculty not finding solutions that are appropriate for the current global situation.” Read more about the choices that TU Delft has made.
   
• Update 29 May, 12:05 PM
  With a drop of four percent, the number of bachelor students lags just a little behind on 2019, but is still ahead of 2018. Which is a standard fluctuation said Rob Mudde in his meeting with the student council.
  The number of master applicants increased with ten percent compared to last year. There is also no drop in international students so far. However it is still unclear what effect the coronacrisis will have on the final number of applicants. “We can’t really tell until we have collected the tuition fees this summer”, said a spokesperson earlier. However, a huge drop is expected in the influx of exchange students since most universities abroad have pulled the plug on their exchange programs for the time being.
   
• Update 29 May, 11:14 AM
  Despite the announcement of new relaxations to the coronavirus measures, TU Delft continues its education and exams online for the entirety of the periods Q4 and Q5 (resits).
  The executive board decided upon this to give teaching staff enough time to prepare their educational activities. ‘There was a need for clarity’, said Rob Mudde when he updated the student council.
   
• Update 29 May, 10:20 AM
  So far, about thirty students have submitted a request to the TU Delft Relief Fund. The fund was made available to students who are in acute financial distress due to the corona crisis. In his monthly meeting with the student council, vice rector Rob Mudde announced that fifteen of those thirty applications have now been processed. Students in financial distress can appeal to the fund through their study advisor. In addition to the solidarity fund, TU Delft also offers other forms of compensation. Among other things, it is more lenient with the payment terms of tuition fees.
   
• Update 28 May, 5:50 PM
  As of June 2, sports centre X will reopen. To do this in a responsible way, X will start with outdoor sports where 1.5 meters of distance can be guaranteed without modification or additional measures.⁠ The first sport to meet the criteria is tennis. The gradual reopening of X is part of a broader plan that the TU Delft is developing for the gradual return of activities on campus. When the amount of people on campus and at X remains manageable, the next step will be to allow other sports. 
   
• Update 25 May, 1:10 PM
  Despite the fact that new relaxations of the corona measures allow for campus examinations, but TU Delft is keeping to an earlier decision to do all the teaching and examinations of Q4 entirely online. The university writes this in an update on its website. However, it will examine whether and under what conditions small-scale practical and final thesis work will be possible from 15 June.The TU Delft is not yet making any announcements about the easing of the rules after Q4. Currently, five taskforces are working out the details
   
• Update 25 May, 1:00 PM
  TU Delft announces that it is working out the details for the introduction weeks and education for first-year students. “The idea is to combine the best of both the digital world and small-scale activities.”
  Despite all efforts, Delft student associations have major concerns on the effects of a digital introduction period.
   
• Update May 20, 7:45 PM
  Student associations in Delft will remain closed until 1 September. That is what the municipality says after previous questions from Delta. The municipality says it is following a national policy that stipulates that ‘canteens (including outside terraces) and changing rooms of (sports) clubs and societies will remain closed until 1 September’. Nightclubs, dance bars and discotheques will also remain closed until 1 September. With this, Delft has decided that student associations do not belong to the regular catering sector. In that case they would have been allowed to open on 1 June.
• Update 20 May, 3:53 PM
  The partial opening of the campus for practical education and exams also offers prospects for hospitality entrepreneurs, says Pieter de Graaf, manager contracts and events. “Cirfood and its entrepreneurs have been asked whether they are prepared to open on 2 June.
  That’s good news for Frank and Elise of Chicken Curry & Chips (CC&C) who will open the doors of their food truck as soon as 2 June. “The first two weeks our truck will be on Freezone C every day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.”, says owner Frank Soekarnsingh. After these two weeks there will be an evaluation with the TU Delft.

  Soekarnsingh has taken all kinds of measures in order to work coronaproof. For example, there is a plastic screen at the front of the truck and with measured rows, customers keep a distance of 1.5 metres at all times. “It is important that everyone sticks to the rules even after picking up their food, the concept of grab & go applies now more than ever”.

• Update 20 May, 5:42 PM 
  Today, the Association of Universities (VSNU) has published a protocol for a restart, a concise document with practical rules and good intentions for academic education after 15 June. Hygiene plays a major role. Disinfecting gel or, where possible, a sink with soap will be placed at all entrances. Hand-washing is of great importance, as is the cleaning of teaching rooms and equipment. But how strict do you have to be, and what is possible? There is room for institutions to make ‘their own considerations’, writes VSNU. The universities are looking for ‘tailor-made solutions’ for dealing with staff and students from at-risk groups. These people (the elderly and lung patients, for example) are allowed to stay away from the campus. They come only ‘on a voluntary basis’. The institutions would also like to have slightly longer opening hours. (HOP)
   
• Update 20 May, 11:41 AM
  With a ban on events for up to a hundred people, the introduction programme (OWee) cannot continue in its usual form for the first time in 46 years. What does this mean for the Delft student associations? Read the article.
   
• Update 20 May, 9:31 AM
  Teaching activities and exams must take place between 11 AM and 3 PM or after 8 PM from 15 June, so that students can travel outside rush hours. Customization is possible, is stated in the information of the Dutch government. The latter seems to be an answer to critical university board members. Geert ten Dam, President of the University of Amsterdam, warned about the consequences of the restrictions last weekend. Only few students are allowed inside faculty buildings. If they also start late and leave early, little time remains. What might help: classes and exams may also start before 3 PM and only end after 8 PM. (HOP)
   
• Update 20 May, 9:28 AM
  Since the pressure on the ICUs has decreased, the OperationAIR devices will not be used. However, should there be another major outbreak, production of the emergency breathing devices can start immediately. Read all about it.
   
• Update 19 May, 8:05 PM
  From 15 June, exams and practical education can take place at the universities again. These moments will be planned in such a way that students will not have to travel during rush hours. This was announced by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte during a press conference on the corona measures tonight.
   
• Update 19 May, 8:01 PM
  During the press conference, Mark Rutte also called on employees to work from home as much as possible. This means that, for the time being, that TU employees are also confined to their homes.
   
• Update 19 May, 7:55 PM
  Party cafes, discotheques and clubs will remain closed after 1 June. “There is too much of a risk of the virus spreading”, reported Prime Minister Mark Rutte. What this means for the student associations is still unknown as the municipality of Delft is still struggling with the question of whether or not a student association with its own hospitality facilities is classified as hospitality or not.
   
• Update 19 May, 7:44 PM
  Museums can reopen on 1 June, on condition that visitors register in advance or buy tickets. This means that the Science Centre Delft will also be accessible again. The museum announced earlier that it would reopen its doors on 6 June. From then on, an adapted programme will be in place that complies with RIVM guidelines.
• Update 19 May, 7:00 PM
  Five taskforces already started last week with research into what the one-and-a-half-meter university should look like. How does that work? Rector Magnificus Tim van der Hagen explains.

What preceded the partial reopening of the campus? Our previous live blog can be found here.