The Hebrew University of Jerusalem will open its second semester of the academic year on time next week, with students able to continue studies — even those who are in quarantine due to the novel coronavirus spread.
Thousands of students will return to the campus on March 15 as university administrators strive to abide by Health Ministry restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of the virus.
Several dozen students and faculty staff who are in ministry-ordered quarantine after returning from trips abroad will be able to participate in classes using an online system that provides live video feed of the sessions.
“The sun does not set on the Hebrew University,” Yishai Fraenkel, director general and vice president of the Jerusalem educational institute, told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
The goal is that even if future Health Ministry orders close both of the university’s campuses in the capital at Givat Ram and Mount Scopus, tutors will use online means to keep studies going.
“We want the university remain open, if not physically then virtually,” Fraenkel said.
The university administration is in close contact with the Health Ministry and hold daily meetings with senior staff about the situation. So far, at least 70 people in Israel have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronanvirus.
The university is “making a great effort to enable online learning” Fraenkel said, so that it can keep operating despite the impact the virus is having on daily life in the country.
Earlier this week Israel ordered all those arriving in the country from aboard — citizens and non-citizens alike — to self-quarantine for 14 days. Thousands more are also in isolation on suspicion they came in contact with those infected. As a result, tens of thousands are now quarantined at home.
Though he conceded that online learning cannot be a replacement for being there, especially for activities such as laboratory work, Fraenkel said that so far studies have not been impacted.
The major casualties of health ministry restrictions have been large conferences that would have included participants from abroad and the university Purim party.
In addition, an open day that was scheduled for Friday was also called off, even though it could have gone ahead as it was being held outdoors and was expected to have less than 5,000 people in attendance, the ministry limit for gatherings at the time which has since been reduced to 2,000.
Although the university has hundreds of students from abroad, almost all of them were already in the country when Israel began placing quarantine orders on those arriving.
A few students who were expected to come on exchange programs canceled their plans, but most have arrived, and if necessary were quarantined, Fraenkel said. The university took measures to ensure that quarantine conditions can be maintained even for those who are living in the dorms.
Provost Noam Shoval said use of the online tutoring method was pioneered by the Rothberg International School, where almost all students have arrived despite fears of the virus.
“There is a lot of concern among students,” Shoval said, adding that none have left their programs to return home.
Shoval said only a few concerned parents have contacted the school to check on the situation. More inquiries have come for universities and in particular those in the US who want to verify that their students at the international school will still be able to earn study credit points even under the current circumstances.
There are about 300-400 students from the US, Shoval said.
The international school began its semester two weeks ago, ahead of the rest of the university, before some of the more severe quarantine restrictions were implemented, though some students from China or Singapore were unable to make the trip to Israel.
Five students who recently visited their home countries were not able to return in time for the current semester. Some who came back from trips to France are now in quarantine, Shoval said.
Most students, he said, were already in the country when the coronavirus began its spread. There are currently 1,200 students at the school, of which a few dozen are still in quarantine.
Almost all of the students live in the dorm facilities. Counselors are on hand to provide those in quarantine with everything that they need, including supplies, he said.
To ensure that the quarantined students don’t miss out on lessons, the school set up all of its tutors with the ability to broadcast their lessons over the internet. The method has already been used for some classes and was also employed to enable quarantined students to hear a megillah reading on Tuesday night, a traditional ceremony on the first night of the Purim festival in Jerusalem.
Should the Health Ministry close down the university campus — a measure taken in some other countries — the school would strive to continue studies.
“We realize that in another week or two the situation could change,” Shoval said in explaining why the school made a point of putting an online system in place.