Saskatchewan Polytechnic is preparing for a number of possibilities going forward, (Submitted Photo/Saskatchewan Polytechnic)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Education and COVID-19

Post-secondary institutions adapting to current realities

Apr 11, 2020 | 1:00 PM

Saskatchewan Polytechnic is adapting to the new realities brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The school has transitioned many classes to online portals. Dr. Has Malik, provost and vice president academic at Saskatchewan Polytechnic said the institution regularly provides instruction to their students via online portals. He added the virus has still made things difficult.

“It makes the transition a little bit more challenging, we have been quite creative in being able to move onto an online environment,” he said.

While many classes are continuing to move forward there are programs that have been affected. Malik said students who are required to take part in practicums or apprenticeships, which are done through outside partners cannot be done currently.

“They’re not cancelled right now, I would say they’re just suspended until we get an opportunity to allow for those clinicals or bring students back,” he said.

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However, SaskPoly was able to get an exception from the province to put 10 pharmacy technician students through an intensive training course at one of their campuses. The reason for this exemption was due to these positions being in demand. Malik said due to the lower number of students they were able to practice social distancing along with doing proper cleaning.

“That’s been a very successful intervention for a kind of on-campus lab delivery,” he said.

When it comes to qualification Malik said they have been careful in keeping up their assessments of students and is confident the coming class of students will be just as qualified as the previous ones. He added many of the programs they deliver are accredited and overseen by sanctioning bodies which make it all the more important for standards to be kept up.

Looking forward Malik said they are currently planning in terms of how they could go about delivering classes come next fall. Malik said they are looking at a number of different scenarios and what each could mean for them. He said the institution has a history of being able to make changes and currently has the ability to do so.

“We’re going to be ready for whatever the realities are,” he said.

With files from Ron Quaroni

MichealJoel.Hanesn@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn