The university announced its decision this morning, and is the first Dutch university to do so.
“Our staff has been and is working very hard to move to remote teaching and assessment as soon as possible”, the university states. Teaching staff will use Blackboard and/or Brightspace to inform students on examination procedures and online education for their specific subjects. Because this rapid switch has asked a lot of the teachers, the university prefers not switch back to physical classrooms.
Normally, a study programme in the Netherlands is bound by regulations and agreements set in the so-called OER (Course and Examination Regulations) for that programme. “As this situation is exceptional, it may be necessary at times to decide on deviations from the OER”, the university warns.
At the time of writing, it is still uncertain what will happen to the practicals. In a few cases, remote teaching may be a viable replacement. In other cases, students can catch up on them later in the programme.
Some classes have already moved to online, and as of next Monday, all education should be.