Update #37
Alert Level 2
Further to the Government announcement, we have moved to Alert Level 2 from 11.59 pm 7 September. On-campus learning has resume from Monday 13 September, with our campuses open to all students.
If you feel unwell, please do not come to campus. Let your lecturer know and stay home until you are well again. If you are tested for COVID, please tell your lecturer (and then update them with the results). This information will be kept confidential.
Student Guide for Coming to Campus
If you will be joining us on campus. Please read our Alert level 2 Guide for Students which has important rules about mask wearing, physical distancing, and how to access the campus.
Guidance on Masks
Under Alert Level 2 with this Delta variant, we
strongly recommend wearing masks on our campuses, particularly when you're moving around in corridors, stairways, and communal spaces where maintaining social distancing is difficult. We
strongly recommend wearing one in classrooms and learning spaces if keeping a 1m distance is difficult.
In Wairarapa's Hub space and Levin's kitchen, we ask that you please wear a mask.
Staff and students are more than welcome to wear a mask throughout the day if that makes them more comfortable.
You are expected to bring your own clean mask, however your lecturer will have some spares if you forget. Please make sure you are washing your masks regularly.
Masks must be worn in the Information Centre, and if you're in a one on one meeting with a UCOL staff member.
Buses
If you use our UCOL Palmerston North intercampus service to Whanganui, this will be running from Monday 13 September onwards. Masks are required for public transport.
Student Services – All Campus
From Monday onwards, our Student Services will be available on all campuses. You will require an appointment before meeting in person. We will resume the drop-in meetings only at Alert Level 1.
Extensions, Placements, and End Dates
If you need an extension, this is possible in extenuating circumstances for some types of assessments. You can make a request through your lecturer or Programme Leader. Check your Programme and Course booklets (given to you at the start of your programme) about assessment due dates etc. Your lecturers will guide you about your workload and not having too many assessments due at once.
UCOL is working closely with clinical placement, and workplace-based providers to make sure that UCOL students get into or back into placement as soon as alert levels allow. Your lecturers will keep you updated on this.
We are aiming to have everyone finish their study as close to the original end date as possible. This could mean some extra classes for some programmes. If this will affect you, your lecturer will let you know.
Please remember to remain vigilant with your health - get a test if you have symptoms, and please stay home if unwell. If you are tested for COVID, please tell your lecturer (and then update them with the results). This information will be kept confidential.
Free Kai and Foodbanks
Many of our campuses have free kai available - please talk to your Student Success team.
Please see the foodbank list for those in your region.
Hardship
Manawatū – If you are facing hardship please contact Rebekah O’Donoghue on
R.J.ODonoghue@ucol.ac.nz.
Wairarapa - Please email Steph Burling, Support, Employability & Youth Guarantee on
s.burling@ucol.ac.nz.
Future Communications
If you have any further questions, please get in touch with
healthinfo@ucol.ac.nz. General and programme related enquires via ‘contact us’ form or ‘help’ on the website will be processed as usual. If we need to update you, updates will be shared via UCOL’s social media, website, Moodle or emailed to you. Where urgently required, we will also text students.
If you need assistance or help, please reach out to us.
Tracking Where You’ve Been
Have you travelled recently to the Auckland and Coromandel region. In that case, please check if you have been in close contact with a COVID-19 patient by visiting the
Ministry of Health website information on contact tracing locations of interest.
If you have attended one of the locations listed during the relevant timeframes, it is considered a contact. Please check:
- The full location and address details.
- Date and the relevant times.
- The instructions on ‘what to do’
- Still unsure? Contact Healthline for advice on 0800 358 5453.
In Alert Level 4, the Government recommend using the Ministry of Health COVID-19 tracker app to keep a record of where you have been. UCOL will continue to display QR Codes for this app at its doors. Whatever system you decide to use, the important thing is to keep a track of where you have been.
Prevention
You can take some simple steps to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
- Wear a face covering on public transport.Learn more
- Avoid close contact with people with cold or flu-like illnesses.
- Practise 2 metre physical distancing and good hygiene.
- Cover coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues or clothing.
- Stay home if you are unwell and contact your GP.
- Wash hands for at least 20 seconds with water and soap and dry them thoroughly:
- before eating or handling food
- after using the toilet
- after coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose or wiping children’s noses
- after caring for sick people
- Keep a track of where you’ve been and who you’ve seen.
COVID-19 Vaccination
Here are some useful documents that covers everything you want to know about the vaccination.
Borders and International Students
Advice for international tertiary students
The New Zealand borders remain closed at this time, to reduce the spread of the virus from outside the country. Students are advised to regularly check the
Immigration NZ website and the official websites of their country’s Embassy or High Commission in New Zealand for information on visas and travel.
New Zealand government has advised all New Zealanders to not travel overseas.
Unite against COVID-19
The Ministry of Health has launched a dedicated
website for COVID-19 that provides information and updates on COVID-19.
COVID-19: Information for disabled people and their family and whānau
COVID-19: New Zealand Sign Language
COVID-19: Easy Read information
Key sources of information and advice are: