TPU moved lectures and sessions for all students to a distance format

TOMSK, Nov 18 – RIA Tomsk. Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in accordance with the Russian Minobrnauki recommendations transferred lectures and practical classes to a distance format until the end of semester to minimize the spread of COVID-19; the end-of-term exams will also be held online, part of the laboratory works remain offline, the university's press service said.

Recall that in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19, Tomsk universities began a new academic year in a mixed mode - intramural form of education was combined with online. Earlier, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation also published an order of Minister Valery Falkov on the transition of the country's universities to "remote work" before the start of the second semester. Regional higher educational institutions were recommended to agree on the "distance" with the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor).

"At TPU, by the end of the fall semester, a new scheme of the educational process is being established. All lectures and practical classes for students of all courses are transferred to a distance mode. The end-of-term exams will also be held in a distance format... The decision to change the mode of operation of the university was made in accordance with the recommendations of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation", – is said in the message.

It is added that part of the laboratory works, which cannot be carried out without special equipment, will nevertheless be held in the buildings of the university in compliance with anti-epidemiological measures for undergraduate, specialist, graduate and postgraduate students. The schedule will be adjusted for them in such a way that all these laboratory tests will be held by December 15th.

"The universities of the region discussed today the changes in their working hours at a meeting of the Tomsk Consortium of Universities and Scientific Organizations. TPU decided to make two schemes of the educational process to take into account the characteristics of different students... The decision to extend the regime or change it will be made based on the epidemiological situation", – Acting Rector of TPU Andrey Yakovlev is quoted in the message.

Earlier it was reported that since the beginning of the pandemic on November 18, 16500 cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the Tomsk region, 10551 people have recovered, 143 have died.