University of Sunderland's guidance to students as new academic year gets set to start following virtual Freshers' Week

The university confirmed that the academic year will begin as planned on Monday, September 21, with teaching set to be a mix of online and campus-based learning.

The university suspended all face-to-face teaching back in March after the outbreak of Covid-19.

A University of Sunderland spokeswoman said: “Teaching will be a blend of on-campus learning and experience with online activities, video conferences and materials.

"We have put in place many measures to protect the health and wellbeing of our students and staff and we are confident that these, combined with the cooperation of our students and staff, will help to keep everyone as safe as possible.”

For the first time, the university had held a virtual Freshers’ Week which has seen new students connect online via the university’s pop-up ‘Virtual Campus’ in a bid to reduce face-to-face contact.

This enabled student avatars interact with students and staff, while taking part in online social activities.

The university confirmed that it had not organised any activity in the city centre for Freshers’ Week, after concerns were raised that large groups of young people were meeting up in the city before the local lockdown was imposed.

A University of Sunderland spokeswoman said: “The university has not arranged any activity in the city centre.

"The vast majority of our Welcome Week for new starters took place on our pop-up ‘Virtual Campus’.

"There was minimal face-to-face activity and what there was happened in line with government guidance on social distancing.”

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