Covid-19: Irish university students to return to campus

Simon Harris said he expects that the majority of students will have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine by September

Students in the Republic of Ireland are set to return to face-to-face learning in September, the minister for further and higher education has said.

Simon Harris said that while there may still be some online learning aspects, the Irish government is planning for a full return to third-level education.

He said he expects that the majority of students will have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine upon their return.

"It will overwhelmingly be on site from the new academic year," he said.

A pilot programme of rapid testing is being carried out at four Irish universities from this week.

The pilot programme is to help the government determine whether or not Covid-19 testing should become a normal part of college life.

In Northern Ireland, University of Ulster's (UU) vice-chancellor previously said that planning is already underway for a full return to campus across all their sites in September.

"Public health indications are encouraging and we can, with increasing confidence, begin to look to a fuller resumption of normal on-campus operations," Prof Paul Bartholomew said.

Prof Bartholomew said that over the coming months the university "will remain vigilant" and said "contingency plans are in place to pivot back to online learning for much of our provision should the public health context compel us to do so".

In a statement, Queen's University Belfast (QUB) said that it intended to "deliver as much face-to-face teaching as possible" by September 2021.

A QUB spokesperson said that the university will continue to be guided by public health advice and the NI Executive at all times.