Higher education is switching to code orange. In the course of the weekend, it will be checked with the education sector when this new situation can start.
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That is what Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts says in the aftermath of the consultation committee. In concrete terms, this means an occupancy of one in five in the auditoriums of universities and 20 percent on campus in universities of applied sciences.
There is an explicit possibility to be more flexible in this regard for first-years, according to the minister. ‘I hope that all universities and colleges will make use of the opportunity to be more flexible for first-year students, so that they do not have to lonely in their room or at home behind their PC,’ says Weyts. ‘These freshmen have only just entered a completely new, unknown, anonymous world. They have not yet received much contact education, they have not yet been able to build a social network, they are not yet familiar with the operation of higher education. We cannot abandon them now. ‘
There will also be a tightening of sports, says the minister. ‘We can continue to exercise, also with the public,’ says Weyts. ‘We are going to revise and tighten the protocols, but may remain public during sporting events. Sporting life should therefore not come to a standstill. We have to sacrifice a lot in these unseen circumstances, and then it is important that we can maintain bright spots such as sporting high masses. ‘
Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke announced at the press conference of the Consultation Committee that the protocols would be revised, but gave no further explanation. That would follow within a week, according to Vandenbroucke.
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