Novel Coronavirus
Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Information
Guidance from the Office of the President of Ghana
All Universities, Senior High Schools, and basic schools, i.e. public and private schools, will be closed Monday, 16th March 2020, till further notice. The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communication, has been tasked to roll out distance learning programmes. However, BECE and WASSCE candidates will be allowed to attend school to prepare for their examinations, but with prescribed social distancing protocols;
Updates From: Academic City
August 19, 2020
Academic City Announces a Blend of Virtual and Physical Learning for 2020/2021 Academic Year
The Governing Council and the Executive Management of Academic City University College, Ghana, has announced a blend of virtual and physical teaching, and learning methods for the commencement of the 2020/2021 academic year. The communique, sent from the office of the university’s President, Prof. Fred McBagonluri reads as follows:
“The past few months have been a challenge for the global community. Like all global institutions, we are increasingly coming to terms with this new normal that was unleashed by COVID -19. We hope that you and your loved ones are safe. As we approach another semester, we thought of reconnecting with the ACity Family. Hence, on behalf of the ACity Governing Council and Executive Team, we would like to share with our community our first semester 2020 resumption plans.”
“We would like to assure you that we are closely monitoring the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic and following the guidance and recommendations of Government and public health agencies. As the situation continues to evolve, our top priority remains the health, safety, and well-being of the ACity Community.”
Outlining the university’s reopening strategy, Prof. McBagonluri stated “Most classes for the semester will start online, but with a hybrid component for Engineering students. Engineering students will have access to Workshops and Laboratories for their practical work. All other Campus facilities will remain closed until further notice. All our students will have access to the ACITY+ digital campus, to ensure easy remote registration, as well as seamless connection and engagement with Faculty.”
To this end, the schedule for the semester will proceed as follows:
- Continuing Students will begin the semester on 7th September, 2020
- New Students intake for the 1st semester will tentatively start from Mid- November 2020
- New Students intake for the Spring semester will start in January 2021(definitive date to be communicated at a later).
Communication on the first semester and resumption protocols will remain an on-going process. The university will continue to monitor the situation closely and will make the necessary updates to reflect current national and international guidelines and directives.
“Our priority remains the health and safety of our community, followed by our commitment to experiential and skill-based practical learning to educate future-ready leaders. We look forward to welcoming you all on campus. Please remain safe and vigilant.”
Updates From: Academic City's President
April 21, 2020
Dear all:
I hope you are doing well and hunkering in the face of this pandemic. In the last announcement, H. E. Akufo-Addo recommended that all schools remain closed. We are adhering to that. Please remain safe and protect your loved ones. To ensure we are adequately prepared for fall/Sept semester, we recommend that you make time between now and Monday 27th April to packed up all your belongs in the offices and faculty spaces to allow access for touch-up work by the construction team. Boxes will be provided to enable you undertake this in a timely and orderly fashion. Please ensure that you label your boxes with your name and department. Our facilities team will store them up in a common place until the construction is over. Please ensure that all your valuables are adequately secured and leave your offices opened after packing to enable access by the construction workers. If you are unable to personally be present please ask a colleague for help. I appreciate your usual cooperation in this regard.
Updates From: Academic City's President
March 30, 2020
Acity Campus in Lockdown
Dear Community:
Due to the prevailing climate of uncertain associated with the global response to COVID-19, management has decided that our campus will be closed from April 1-May 30th. During this time there will be limited access to the campus. All staff members and senior management accessing the campus will require prior approval from the President. Please note that during this closure, all janitorial services will be suspended. Campus security will the reduced to the most essential and critical. Security will have the mandate to refuse access to the campus unless prior authorization has been granted. All junior staff and students would not have access to the campus. Please not that starting tomorrow all classrooms, offices and hostel will be locked. Construction will continue as required.
This state of affairs is subject to change based on changes in the current regulatory climate. We will continuously monitor the situation and update you if and when necessary. I appreciate your understanding and look forward to a progressive rest of the year.
Updates From: Academic City's President
March 30, 2020
Online Programs and Data Implications
I hope you are all hunkering down and protecting yourselves and your love ones from this relentless pandemic. As you know, this is a global problem and some of the most advanced countries have been caught unprepared. My hope is that it would soon pass and we would be able to return to our daily lives. Stay safe.
I wanted to bring you updates on the feedback we have received from the deans. We are working to get data for all our students and faculty. For all students, who are in good financial standing we would offer data to you at no charge. Those students not in good financial standing will equally receive data but will be billed. At this point my main interest is to get you all situated online. We would worry about the financial implications later. Please focus on getting this semester closed out. We are also working to figure out the nature and form of the final exams. This would duly be communicated.
I wish you all good health and a successful end of semester.
Updates From: Academic City's President
March 16, 2020
Following the new directives issued by H.E Nana Akufo-Addo on the Coronavirus Pandemic, our physical campus will be closed and remain closed until further notice. The following are next steps recommended for operational continuity:
Faculty: All teaching on campus will be suspended for one week effective today to allow faculty to develop and upload online content. We will go virtual on Monday, March 23, 2020. All faculty will continue to deliver course content online. We encourage you to adopt the most appropriate technologies that facilitate the effective delivery of your modules. Our IT organization has provided options which have been communicated to you. Repost here for emphasis:
IT Support: Will be available as needed to help faculty transition to online delivery.
Staff: All staff should work remotely.
Essential Staff: Cleaners, Security, etc will continue to work onsite.
International and Presidential students: Hostel will be CLOSED. ALL students should vacate hostel by noon Tuesday, 17th, March 2020. International students with concerns can reach out to the Dean of Students and Community Affairs. Presidential Scholars and International students will receive a separate email.
Let me emphasize that this is not a vacation. All employees must be reachable during office hours. Our admission team should take advantage of this situation to access parents and students at home. All executive and management team must be on call and follow communication updates online.
In furtherance to the above, we urge all to adhere to the basic precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Updates From: Academic City's President
March 13, 2020
Prof. Fred McBagonluri
Dear Academic City Community,
Greetings from the (Governing) Executive Council and Management of Academic
City University College. The Council and Management have keenly followed the
situation of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak since its announcement
early this year.
Following the confirmation of two cases of COVID-19 by the Health Ministry
of Ghana, Management of the College wishes to announce the deployment of a
number of measures to ensure students and staff are protected and safe on
campus.
Safety Recommendations & Preventive Measures
We are all reminded of the following:
Admin will provide alcohol-based hand sanitizers throughout the workplace and in common areas. Cleaning will also be increased to ensure that frequently touched objects and surfaces such as telephones and keyboards are kept clean and disinfected.
We are also encouraged to use telephones instead of face-to-face meetings as much as possible during this outbreak. And to ensure continuity, faculties are encouraged to consider remote teaching arrangements like the usage of Zoom incase it becomes necessary to put lectures on hold for a while.
Online/Virtual Education
Academic City prides itself on its digital approach to education and we are ever ready to shift to using our campus LMS, CAMU as well as other online tools that are subscribed and ready to be deployed by our IT Services department in extreme cases of campus shutdown and country-wide lockdown.
Step 1: Faculty can upload all their course material to myCAMU
- These include any PPTs, articles, videos, docX, excel files etc.
- They should be doing this already, but we have never enforced it
Step 2: Faculty can deliver their lectures in real time/live through Zoom from campus or from their home if they have good internet
- They can share their screen
- They can whiteboard & annotate
- For better results both faculty and students should download zoom
- Students can present and share projects with the class
- Recording is possible and can be saved in the cloud; incase some students miss the broadcast
Step 3: Faculty can paste the link to the zoom session in myCAMU for students to access
- The link can be pasted to myCAMU in the lesson plan
- All students already have a myCAMU login
- Students simply need to click the link to be put into the live class