Information for students, faculty and staff regarding COVID-19. (Updated: 18 January 2021)
Information for students, faculty and staff regarding COVID-19. (Updated: 18 January 2021)
Umeå University follows the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s guidelines and have taken a number of precautionary measures to help limit the spread of COVID-19 on our campuses.
The university premises including the University Library remain open with limited opening hours, this is to enable necessary compulsory course components to be carried out and course literature to be accessible, for instance. However, you should avoid coming to the university unless necessary, and absolutely refrain if you have the slightest symptoms of disease.
All public spaces, lecture rooms, group study rooms and study spaces must be adapted for physical distancing to the extent possible. The university does this by
For security reasons, some buildings are kept locked. This currently concerns the University Administration Building and the University Administration Building. Main entrances are open during daytime.
Examination should take place online or through other adapted formats that do not involve person-to-person meetings or visits to university premises, under the condition that legal certainty can be maintained and that reasonable demands on quality can be satisfied. This means your examinations can be different than what you had expected.
In cases when an examination must be carried out in an examination hall, it will be adapted to make it as safe as possible. If your teacher has assessed that some form of physical presence is required for your examination, you can also rest assured that measures have been taken for you to participate in a way that ensures your health and safety.
It is important that you do not participate in teaching or examination if you have the slightest symptoms of disease. If you cannot take part due to illness, you have the right to participate the next time offered.
We hope that you will have understanding for the fact that rapid changes may be necessary during this pandemic although they have affect on you and your studies.
Please contact your course coordinator to find out how your studies and examinations are affected.
To reduce the spread of COVID-19 during written exams in examination halls, the University has introduced new routines during COVID-19.
A student who experiences symptoms of disease may not participate in a hall examination. The student is to notify the teacher of his or her absence and will be given the opportunity to participate during the next opportunity.
The number of participants in each hall has been reduced. For instance, the biggest hall in Östra Paviljongen, which normally seats 108 students now only allow for 29 seats. Smaller rooms hold fewer students.
A distance of 2 metres in all directions is maintained between students in all examination halls, according to recommendations from the county medical officer.
Tables and bathrooms are cleaned between each exam session.
A student who feels worried about taking part in a written hall examination can choose to not take part and will then be given the chance to sit the exam at the next opportunity.
The measures have been taken in dialogue with the Department of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention at Region Västerbotten.
All students must be signed up for the exam and be listed on the registration list that the department submits to the examination services in order to take the exam. Students who have not signed up on time will not be allowed to take the exam.
To avoid several people using the same phone and taking unnecessary contact with the invigilator, students will not be able to phone their teacher if there are obscurities in the exam. Instead, students are asked to make a note of this in their exam. Teachers are not allowed to visit the examination hall during the ongoing exam either. If a situation should arise regarding questions of aids or missing questions in the exam, the invigilator may call the teacher.
Instead of only using the main entrance, four entrances to Östra Paviljongen (the Eastern Pavilion Examination Halls) are to be used. Each examination hall has a specific entrance assigned.
Find out what entrance is to be used for each examination hall
To reduce unnecessary gatherings at Östra Paviljongen, the starting times of examinations are different for different halls. The starting times for four of the halls are be 8:00 and 16:00. The starting time for the other four halls is 9:00, 14:00 and 18:00. Some exceptions may be made.
To reduce the risk of causing queues into the examination halls, the invigilator will not check students’ identification and registration at the door. Instead, the invigilator will do so once the exam has started. Lists of registered students will be posted outside each hall.
When handing in an exam, the student will approach the invigilator's table, show their identification and hand in the exam.
A new routine is the Plexiglas sheet distancing the invigilator from the students. Also, a maximum of one student may queue at any given time at a safe distance according to markings on the floor.
In addition, students will be urged to maintain physical distancing, avoid talking to the invigilator and each other to the extent possible.
During busy examination periods, more halls will be used other than the Eastern Pavilions in order to follow the COVID restrictions. Other premises used are Iksu, Nolia, Ersboda Folkets Hus and campus. The same rules regarding distancing apply to those facilities.
