Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași (TUIASI) Senate has approved the Administration Council’s proposal for the new academic year in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This year TUIASI students will continue to study in a hybrid system that will require their physical presence in Iași. All courses will be held online and all practical activities – seminars, laboratories, projects, physical training – will be held onsite.
Starting 1 October 2021, when the academic year opening festivity will be held, all students will be physically present at university activities unless there is a specific reason, for example the student has a medical condition or is away with Erasmus+.
“As a technical university, with a lot of practical applications, we can’t hold all academic activities online. We are also taking into consideration last year’s experience, we’ve had only six COVID cases in all students in Tudor Vladimirescu Campus and we didn’t have to suspend onsite activities at any faculty. We are confident in our ability to protect our staff and our students this academic year,”
said Rector Professor Dan CAȘCAVAL, PhD. Eng.
Although students will be physically attending seminars and laboratories, all COVID safety regulations will be strictly enforced.
In case of infection, the faculty can ask the Administration Council to suspend onsite activities if there are between 1 – 3 students confirmed in a two week period in a specific study group, taking also into consideration the size of the group.
The University Senate will have to approve the decision to suspend onsite activity after getting a notice from the Public Health Direction.
If a professor is infected, all onsite activities with his students will be suspended until his recovery.
“Unless there will be changes in regulations, we will hold the academic year opening festivity on Friday, 1 October, in campus, in the same place as last year, between T9 and T10 dorms. There will be a limited number of guests from our local partners and we will award our best students from each faculty, all while following safety regulations. This is another reason why the festivity will be held outdoors, on campus,”
said Rector Professor Dan CAȘCAVAL, PhD. Eng.
Campus dorms will house students to their capacity in accordance with national law and following safety regulations. The lists with students who have asked for a place in Tudor Vladimirescu Campus are already compiled and the places in rooms have been distributed.
To ensure all TUIASI students who need a place in a dorm get one, this year we won’t be accomodating students from other universities. The accomodation process is done online, so students won’t need to have physical contact with university personnel. Students will receive their dorm and room number by e-mail and also when they will have to pick up their keys.
Although I am a strong advocate of vaccination, there is no law at the moment requiring students to be vaccinated to take part in academic or campus activities, so we won’t enforce this. We will however encourage vaccination by offering a month free of charge in our dorms for students who get their shots. We are the first university in Romania to try this approach and have set an example for other universities who have then done the same. We will also coordinate with The Public Health Direction of Iași to have a mobile vaccination center on campus during the accomodation days.
added Rector Professor Dan CAȘCAVAL, PhD. Eng.
