A message from Professor Nicola Phillips, Vice Principal for Education
From Leigh Harrison
Hello everybody, my name is Nicola Philips. I'm the Vice Principal for Education at King's.
I hope you and all your loved ones are keeping safe and well wherever you are in the world at the moment. I know of course that many of you are still in the middle of your exams and assessments and I really hope these are going well for you.
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing uncertainty for everyone and it will do for some time, and I know that you all have many questions in your minds about what the next academic year will look like.
So, this short video is to give you a first update and to make a start on answering some of those questions for you. I'm going to be recording a series of these updates over the next few weeks to keep you informed and up to date and, together with the information you will receive from your faculties and departments, to give you a good picture of what you can expect as you prepare for next year.
So, the important thing for today is for me to assure you that we'll be ready and really excited to welcome you back in the autumn. Our priority is of course the health and wellbeing of everyone studying and working at King's, and indeed our wider community. We don't yet know for certain what the worldwide situation will be with COVID-19 but whatever your circumstances, and whether you're able to be physically present in London right away or not, we are committed to providing you with the high quality education and the enriching university experience that you want and you can expect from King's.
So, for your educational experience, obviously what matters most is regular interaction and discussion with your teachers and with each other, and individual support for your studies, and these will continue to be at the heart of our educational provision however teaching is delivered over the coming year.
Wherever possible and governed at all times by safety measures, we're planning for small group teaching activities such as seminars, tutorials, supervisions, some laboratory and other practical activities to take place on campus for those students who are able to be with us in London, with opportunities to participate in these activities remotely for those who are not, assuming that your programme regulations allow that.
Our intention is to have as many of these activities on campus as we can while being prepared for some of them to be delivered via enhanced use of technology as well. Online teaching and technology-enhanced learning will be used where we can't ensure safe distancing, and this includes lectures and larger group teaching, at least for the first semester.
We're developing imaginative ways to ensure that you have opportunities to connect with fellow students and others across the university and to take part in a range of extracurricular activities, and KCLSU are also working really hard to offer you as much of the social life of being a student as possible, both virtually and where possible on campus.
And of course you will continue to have access to our wide range of services support, guidance and learning resources, which as you already know have moved online over recent months.
Now, the precise details of what your teaching arrangements will be will vary for each programme, and let me tell you that your faculties and departments are working incredibly hard to get the right arrangements in place for your subject area, and to redesign programmes and modules so that they can be taught in different formats. This is going to take some time and we won't be able to answer all of your many specific questions immediately, but we will do so as soon as humanly possible so please trust that your departments and faculties will contact you with more information as quickly as possible over the next few days, weeks and months, once arrangements for each programme and each module are confirmed.
As we open our campuses, we'll put in place appropriate and specific measures to protect the health and wellbeing of all of our students and staff, in line with UK Government guidance. We're constantly adapting to what are radically changed circumstances for every university, and we'll need to continue to review our plans as the situation evolves. So please continue to check your email, please visit the coronavirus pages on our website for the latest updates and I'll speak to you again soon with more information.
Thank you.
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