The COVID-19 situation is rapidly evolving and major University-specific announcements are being communicated through student and staff emails, and information pages frequently updated – including with links to videos of the recent information sessions.

Although our lecture attendances total less than the advised limit of 500, Flinders University is taking a cautious approach to gatherings in the low hundreds and delivering lectures online from today, Tuesday 17 March.

Students are being advised to not attend lectures in order to avoid larger static gatherings of people in spaces for extended periods, however campuses are still operating and students may come to Flinders University for other activities. These include visiting the library or attending to research, and for seminars, workshops, and tutorials – which currently continue to operate as normal but will, where possible, be transitioned online.

Students are being advised to check their topics on FLO or contact topic coordinators for the latest advice on the status of their tutorials.

Both the staff and student coronavirus information pages have been updated with this information and other government advice, and also include links to view the information sessions held recently.

In an email to staff yesterday, Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling stated: “Our first priority will be the health and wellbeing of our students and staff, and you can rest assured that every effort will be made to provide the safest possible environment for study and for work.

“The University has been planning for the impacts of the pandemic and I would again like to thank staff for their incredible efforts in developing a range of contingency plans. The COVID-19 Taskforce has done invaluable work in preparing a suite of response plans and has been providing regular updates to staff and students on the developing situation.”