LONDON, ONT. -- Approximately 30,000 students graced the campus at Western University last year, but come fall, a large many will instead be adapting to a new way of learning and a very different campus life.

“We are preparing for the fall semester to be offered in a mixed delivery mode with some of the students here on campus and others learning online,” says Jennie Massey, associate vice-president of student experience at Western.

Western has also come up with a plan for first-year students. In order to make their first experience a successful one, the school has created a new program called Thriving Foundation to help with that transition.

“Students are invited to come to campus for one day and we are offering eight sessions between June and July,” says Massey. “That’s an opportunity for new students and their parents to come to campus in small numbers, meet with faculty and staff, get to know some friends and explore the campus a little bit.”

Across the road at Brescia University College, approximately 1,600 students are expected in the fall. The school has also planned for virtual learning models.

“We really have four modes of instruction for the fall and winter semester, and the first is virtual/online format and half of our courses will move to that format,” says Marianne Simm, vice-president of students at Brescia.

There will also be a blended format where some students will be required to be on campus every other week. For those needed in lab scenarios, Simm says that’s been planned for as well.

“We are considering the use of PPE for the students when they are in the laboratory environment.”

When it comes to residence, the school has the capacity for 300 students to live on campus and safety is also being taken into consideration.

“We are also thinking about some of the wrap-around policies, so what will be the cleaning schedules in common spaces,” says Simm. “What will guest policies look like in the fall? It might be different. And we are also building enough flexibility to react if something changes.”

Fanshawe College has also released information this week about summer students and the upcoming fall/winter semester which can be found here.