COVID-19 update – Adjustment to operations

16 March 2020

Dear Student,

Welcome back to campus today.

I understand that many of you are concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic and what it means for the University’s operations and your studies. I want to assure you that we are facing this situation together as a community. We are working hard to implement alternative arrangements to ensure our enrolled students receive a high quality education and enable all our students to continue to access their education with minimal disruption.

The Federal Government advice is that university classes are currently exempt from the ban on gatherings of 500 or more people. Monash has no planned classes of 500 or more people. Given the changing nature of the current situation, the University is implementing a series of proactive measures to ensure the continued delivery of a quality education experience, while maintaining effective health and safety conditions for our community.

There have been a number of changes to the University’s Welcome Week events including the cancellation of O-Fest After Dark. Please see a full list of cancelled events.

From today, the following changes are being made to Monash’s operations:

  • A social distance of 1.5 metres between people on campus is mandatory from today. Furniture will be rearranged within physical spaces - including on-campus laboratories - to accommodate this requirement. The social distancing requirement may require some non-academic events/activities to be cancelled.
  • We have also extended the hours of core buildings such as the libraries, and at the Clayton campus, the Learning and Teaching building, Woodside and biomedical learning and teaching buildings, to ensure students can continue to access these formal and informal learning spaces.
  • From Tuesday 17 March, all lectures will be recorded for playback, and some may be live streamed and captured for later viewing online via Moodle.
  • From Tuesday 17 March, all practicals, workshops (on campus), studios and laboratories are formally postponed for the remainder of this week. Tutorials, workshops and applied sessions will recommence next week online. Your faculty will be in touch with you directly to confirm alternative arrangements also for practicals, studios and laboratories which cannot be undertaken online.
  • Students completing placements as part of their studies will be contacted by their faculty with advice on how placement requirements will be addressed, particularly in circumstances where placement bodies such as schools and hospitals are no longer able to accept students for the time being.
  • All peer mentoring will be moved online.
  • All Semester 1 exams will be delivered either as take-home, eExams or alternative assessments. There will be no in-semester or end of semester face-to-face exams.
  • All Australian graduation ceremonies scheduled for May will be deferred, advice on alternative graduation dates later in the year will be provided in due course; anyone who has paid graduation fees will have these fees deferred or refunded.
  • We are working on ways to confer degrees to students who have completed their course, and then will transmit graduation documents by post; details on timing of these actions will be provided shortly.
  • All faculty camps will be cancelled.

For those of you who have been travelling overseas and have returned/entered Australia after 12.00am 16 March 2020 you are required to self-isolate for a period of 14 days. For information how to do this you will need to visit the Victorian State Government Department of Health and Human Services website regarding COVID-19.

I know you’ll have many questions. Please contact Monash Connect and they will explain the University’s support services available to you during this period, including support for health, food and accommodation.

Once you have made this call, our Chief Medical Officer will also reach out to you to ensure you have the latest medical advice. Finally, your unit coordinators will also reach out proactively to ensure you can maintain your studies while in isolation.

Our first priority is to keep you healthy and safe, and to support your studies so that you can graduate when you intended. Much of your study can be done online and we will make sure you are equipped and supported to do so during this time.

Monash provides free confidential counselling for all Monash students. If you need support at any time, please call 1300 788 336.

If you have any general enquiries, please reach out to Monash Connect on 9902 6011 or online.

We’re here to support you in every possible way and we will continue to keep you updated as the situation changes.

To read about the safety measures and changes Monash has implemented in relation to COVID-19 and for the latest information and resources, including university travel updates, please visit the website and online fact sheet.

Professor Margaret Gardner AC                
President and Vice-Chancellor