SEMARANG – The Rector of Universitas Diponegoro (UNDIP), Prof. Dr. Yos Johan Utama SH MHum, said Undip would not yet conduct face-to-face or offline lectures in the odd semester 2021/2022 Academic Year (TA). This was because of the Covid-19 pandemic that still needed to beware of.

This affirmation was conveyed by the Undip Rector when he was giving a speech at the inauguration of 3 professors at the Prof. Soedarto SH Building, Tembalang, Semarang, Monday (31/5/2021). ”For the next semester, Undip will not carry out the offline lectures, it is still online,” said Prof Yos Johan.

Many things were taken into consideration. So that, Universitas Diponegoro still had to implement online lectures. Among them were related to a large number of students, the number of teaching hours by lecturers which got multiplied if it was conducted offline or face-to-face, to the consideration of students who should stay in boarding houses if offline lectures were carried out.

He stated that the current number of Undip students reached 55 thousand, the number he described was the same as the population in a district outside Java. “We can guard here. Here it can be arranged. But what about students in boarding houses, we have to be careful,” he said.

The Rector explained various things if they had to carry out the lectures offline. The lecturers’ teaching load would increase three times heavier. It was because during the pandemic period there must be restrictions on the number of students who were allowed to be in the classroom. Each class must be divided into three parts. That meant, the meeting held by the lecturer, who usually teaches ten times, would become 30 times.

According to that, Prof Yos Johan was worried that lecturers would experience extreme fatigue if offline lectures were applied. “I’m worried, it’s nothing to get Covid, but because of the fatigue the lecturers can get, also being infected or exposed to Covid-19.”

Another thing to consider was the condition of students from outside Semarang who should stay in a boarding house. This condition could rise the possibility where one room would be filled with three students. Limited space for activities, including having the meal together and other activities. These could make them vulnerable to contracting Covid-19. Therefore, Undip ensured that offline lectures would not be held in the odd semester of the 2021/2022 academic year, which usually started in July.

In order to maximized the online learning process, various facilities ranging from websites, emails, community forums and other information technology facilities were maximized to support learning called online asynchronous. It was a method that allowed program participants to do the learning other than at a predetermined time. This method aimed to maintain the quality of the education held.

Therefore, University leaders should make the efforts to obtain the best decisions in dealing with the current pandemic period. “We did a thorough study first and made an effort. For the next semester, Undip still has not conducted offline lectures,” he said. (public relations team)

Source : undip.ac.id