With the extension of the exceptional period for the COVID-19 health crisis, going into the 2021/22 academic year the UOC will continue taking the measures required to adapt to students' needs arising from the pandemic.

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From now on, you don't need to make appointments to collect or return library loan items.

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Do you need to borrow a book from the Library for the start of the academic year? Have you had a document out on loan for some time and want to return it? Here are the steps to follow to continue enjoying the Library's collection of printed texts.

The loan service is available in Spain and Andorra. 

Waiting times may be longer than usual for compliance with security measures applied due to COVID-19.
 

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"...in exercise of our university's autonomy and social responsibility, I would like to relay personally to you the Executive Board's decision to extend the policy of prioritizing e-working throughout the 2020/21 academic year. "

"...our commitment and quality as a team of professionals is one of the University's main strengths. This has been demonstrated time and again, in periods of change and upheaval such as the present, throughout the UOC's twenty-five year history – a celebration of this milestone is pending – and, most of all, on a daily basis in our renewed mission to make education, research and innovation key drivers of change."

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Over a period of two months, the University's faculty held 24 online webinars to help the teaching community end the school year online.
 

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The Spanish government has declared ten days of mourning throughout the country for the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. From today, Wednesday 17 May, and until midnight on Saturday 6 June, we will pay our respects for these victims with black ribbons and flags at half mast. The UOC will also add a black ribbon to our website and hold a minute's silence at 12 noon today in memory of the more than 27,000 victims of COVID-19. The University invites its community of students, graduates and teaching, research and administrative staff to stop what they are doing and join us in this heartfelt minute of silence. 

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• Get yourself ready for June's final assessment tests

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In response to the exceptional situation surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we are extending the due dates for all items currently on loan to 18 May.

Spain's royal decree 11/2020, of 31 March, gave the option of extending employment contracts that stem from the national Science, Technology and Innovation System's funding calls by a period equal to the duration of the current state of emergency. The contracts affected by this royal decree are those that were due to end between 2 April 2020 and 1 April 2021.

Subsequently the Government of Catalonia issued a statement regarding the extension of FI (researcher training) and Beatriu de Pinós contracts, saying it would apply the same conditions as those laid out in the aforementioned royal decree's 13th additional provision.

The UOC's Executive Board has likewise decided to extend employment contracts stemming from UOC internal calls by however long the state of emergency lasts, to the same dates as those established by the aforementioned royal decree 11/2020.

"(...) Now is not the time for celebrations, but our current troubles must not blind our sense of perspective. On 6 April 1995, with unanimous agreement from all political parties, the Catalan Parliament passed a law to create the UOC. And right from the start our University has played a leading role in profound changes that have taken place in education and training, work and research, knowledge and life in general. To remain true to our founding spirit and original vocation to public service and societal impact, we must continue to lead the way in driving the digital transformation of our society, in the evolution of our ways of learning, in the development of new talents and, above all, in strengthening the responsible, critical spirit of people in our society – in Catalonia, Spain and worldwide. (...)"

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• Final assessment tests for bachelor's degrees, university master's degree, the Centre for Modern Languages and open courses will be conducted online. We will inform you about everything this entails soon.
• All final project defences will also be conducted online (for all bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and other postgraduate programmes).
• All internships will take place online, via teleworking, or through other related activities where other options are not possible.

“(...) The seriousness of the situation has led us to take extraordinary measures to safeguard the public service we offer and ensure our activities go on. These measures include closing the UOC's centres, offering flexibility in student assessment and strengthening the channels available online and on the Campus, which is seeing record numbers of users. We have also produced a website to keep everyone informed, and developed new content and activities for members of our Alumni programme. Our research efforts are focusing on projects linked to the pandemic and we have worked (jointly with UNED) to provide open-access online learning resources to other universities that need them. (...)”

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Spain's Ministry of Universities and the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) are launching a platform to help Spain's universities switch from face-to-face teaching systems to online learning.

This initiative, dubbed Conectad@s: la universidad en casa, seeks to enable teachers, students and society in general to make the most of digital education. Specifically, it will offer advice and resources for all Spanish universities so they can deal with the shutdown of on-site learning because of COVID-19 as effectively as possible.

Catalonia's twelve universities have jointly decided to set up the UNIferia digital platform following the postponement of the Saló de l’Ensenyament fair due to health risks.

The UOC's centres in Mexico and Colombia are closed from Wednesday 18 March. As is the case with the closure of the UOC's centres in Spain, services will continue to be offered by telephone and online.

To avoid problems with returns of loan items following the closures of UOC locations, the Library has automatically renewed all current loans, extending them to 14 April. Over the coming days you will still be able to use the Library, but you may experience some delays in the processing of requests until things return to normal. This applies equally to UOC loans, Catalan university libraries loans and inter-library loans. 

Requests for the electronic documents supply service may also be subject to delays due to the closures of other libraries and institutions.

According to the evolution of the current COVID-19 epidemic situation, the UOC has decided to take measures to adapt itself as much as possible to these moments of exceptionality.

We will continue to work to ensure that the semester can go on as normal and that you can go on studying at the same pace. Likewise, we will also be adopting measures shortly to make our programmes even more flexible for all those of you who might have any difficulties with completing the assessment activities as normal. We will explain them as soon as possible for each programme or course.

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Territorial centres
As of Monday 16 March no face-to-face services will be available to the public at any of our regional centres, as was already the case in Madrid and Terrassa. Personalized attention will still be available over the phone and online.

Castelldefels and Barcelona centres
The Tibi3, 22@, Castelldefels and Tuset buildings will also be closed as of Monday 16 March. In the event anyone needs to gain access to a building, they must identify themselves at the entrance and security personnel will open the doors remotely from Tibidabo. A minimal range of essential activities will continue at the Tibidabo building.

In light of all this, the recommendation is for all staff to continue e-working, indefinitely until further notice.

Advice regarding preventative measures
It is important to avoid travelling for work or non-work reasons, and to reduce all journeys to the greatest extent possible.

It is also important for each and every one of us to pay close attention to the general recommendations published by the authorities, namely:

• Wash your hands carefully and often.
• Use disposable paper tissues.
• Cover your mouth and nose with your forearm when coughing or sneezing.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

“(...) Just as you are, I am aware that the coming days will pose challenges. All the steps we have taken here at the UOC, including allowing staff to work remotely, aim to safeguard the health of the people who work here, while doing everything in our power to ensure that our teaching, research and other services can go on. We will continue to take the appropriate measures at all times. (...)”

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The UOC's centres in Madrid, Terrassa and elsewhere

• From 13 March onwards, the services offered at the Madrid centre will not be face-to-face. Services will be offered online or via telephone due to the current situation in the region.
• The UOC's centre in Terrassa, located in the El Vapor Universitari building, has had to close and face-to-face services are not on offer. Instead, services will continue to be offered online or via telephone.
• All other UOC centres remain open as usual.

Higher risk groups

Higher risk groups (such as people with immune system problems, diabetes or chronic cardiovascular, heart or lung diseases) and pregnant women should work remotely and avoid coming in to work.

If, due to the nature of your tasks, you cannot work remotely, email the Health and Safety Service.

Internships at the UOC

Interns at the UOC must respect the same guidelines put in place for all UOC staff: they should work remotely whenever possible and follow the instructions given by the heads of the faculties, research centres and administrative departments.

Internships in schools and universities

Internships in schools or universities (that have started or that are about to start) have been temporarily cancelled in those regions where schools and universities have been ordered to close.

Internships in healthcare centres or other institutions

Internships in healthcare centres or other institutions (that have started or that are about to start) will continue as normal unless the centre decides to close, or decides to remain open, but without allowing interns in. If your internship is affected in this way, the UOC will open a channel of communication and all efforts will be made to find an alternative solution. If no other solution can be found, the internship will have to be postponed.

Students on the University Master's Degree in Teacher Training coordinated by Pompeu Fabra University need to follow the instructions given by that university.

Doctoral thesis defences

Doctoral thesis defences may, temporarily, be carried out online.

UOC staff working at the same time

All UOC staff in Europe, whether working online or in person, need to coincide between the hours of 10 am and 4 pm. The faculties, research centres and administrative departments will make any necessary adjustments to ensure that staff coincide as and when required.

While efforts to contain the outbreak go on, the heads of faculty, research centres and administrative departments have been told that they can increase the amount of time people can spend working remotely in order to reduce the amount of time staff members spend together. With this in mind, they have been told that people can work remotely as long as this does not affect the University's normal activities and while they can guarantee that all the tasks they have been assigned are properly controlled and monitored. The heads can decide how best they wish to handle this situation in each case.