News Coronavirus in Italy

Covid-19: Italy reopens universities after six months

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

17 Sep, 2020

Universities across Italy reopen for lessons with new covid-19 rules.

Italy's universities are to reopen for lessons on Monday 21 September, after a closure of more than six months due to the coronavirus emergency, announced Italian higher education minister Gaetano Manfredi.

Universities will adhere to strict new rules, aimed at containing the spread of covid-19, with the obligatory wearing of masks for students, including during lessons, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

"Face-to-face lessons are resuming in all universities" - Manfredi told Sky TG24 - "Some have started and most will resume on Monday."

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Class rooms will have a maximum 50 per capacity, with seats clearly indicated to ensure social distancing among students, and each room will be sanitised every day, reports Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

"There is a mixed model in which lecture halls are 50 per cent full and, at the same time, there is distance learning for those living far away and foreigners and everyone else who is unable to come to class for various reasons," Manfredi told Sky TG24.

Students will be allotted time slots for attending class in shifts, reports La Repubblica, with only professors allowed to remove masks during lessons.

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"From September all exams will be in attendance but many students are asking to be able to take exams at a distance, many are using the 'mixed model' in which the student can choose how to take the exam" - Manfredi told Sky TG24 - "Universities have opened study rooms and libraries, everything that can be done to ensure the continuation of education has been done."

Covid-19: Italy orders closure of schools and universities

Lessons at Italy's universities and schools were stopped on 5 March, in the early stages of the covid-19 pandemic. The majority of Italy's schools reopened on 14 September.

Photo La Repubblica