Covid

In three weeks' time, students in the Netherlands will be allowed to attend classes in person again! The ministry of education wrote to all institutions of higher education as the Easter weekend commenced to inform them that from 26 April students will be able to attend one class per week, after receiving online education for months now since the Netherlands went into lockdown on 14 December, 2020.

As countries around the world start rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine, an anonymous survey among Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences' international students and staff members revealed deep divisions on whether they will take the vaccine when it becomes available to them. Closer questioning showed that many of those doubts stem from being worried about potential "side effects".

“Lessons Learned at Austrian SMEs during the Pandemic” was the title of the speech delivered by Wittenborg Senior Lecturer Dr Alexander Bauer at the first ‘INCREDIBLE’ Conference held on 26-27 October, 2020.

The Dutch education sector has been spared any additional COVID-19 regulations, with prime minister Mark Rutte saying that "education is too important" to impose more restrictions. However, other sectors – like restaurants, bars and cafés – were not able to escape as the government announced a partial lockdown for at least a month as of Wednesday 10 p.m. with a series of new regulations.

Faced with the dilemma of finding an internship in the trying times of COVID-19, Wittenborg student Busola Awosika resorted to an unusual approach to find a work placement. Instead of applying online, which is how most vacancies are filled these days, she decided to go old-school and make a cold call to the company's headquarters in Arnhem. And it worked. This week she started as a marketing intern at the European Association of Urology, which represents urology professionals from around the world.

From Monday, the 5th of October the wearing of face masks at all Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences locations in the Netherlands will be compulsory unless sitting in a classroom, teaching, or sitting behind a desk with 1.5-m distance from others.

The Dutch government introduced new measures this week to curb the spread of COVID-19, but nothing that directly impacts higher education for the time being. It is now strongly requested that all persons wear face masks in public indoor spaces throughout the Netherlands. From Monday 5th October the wearing of facemasks is compulsory at all Wittenborg locations, unless sitting behind a desk, or in a classroom maintaining distance from others according to government guidelines (1.5 metres).

Due to COVID-19 and the continued travel restrictions in many countries, the annual Hospitality and Tourism Educators Conference (EuroCHRIE), due to be held in Denmark next week, has been postponed until 2021. Consequently the 2021 conference, which was supposed to be hosted by Wittenborg University of Applied Science in Apeldoorn next year, has now been moved to 2022.

Hybrid learning – a mix of online and classroom sessions – will become the new norm in the coming academic year and Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences plans to excel in it. This was the message from Wittenborg President Peter Birdsall to staff as they prepare to continue delivering quality education to new and current students despite the looming presence of COVID-19 around the world.