THE Mona campus of The University of the West Indies (UWI) has announced that it has suspended late fines usually charged for outstanding fees to allow students not yet registered for this semester to access online course material when classes resume on April 14.

Classes are set to resume across all faculties on the Mona and Western Jamaica campuses on that date, but strictly via online platforms.

“Given that some students are still not registered and will therefore not be able to access course content on our online platform, the campus has decided to waive the late registration fee of $4,000…The fee will be waived for registration [that should have been done] between March 15 and the end of teaching,” the university said.

Following the Government-mandated closure of schools that took effect on March 13, as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, the university said it would remain closed for four weeks, but did not at that time take a decision about the format which classes would take upon resumption.

However, in a statement published on its website and communicated with students, The UWI said teaching would be delivered online/remotely “for the remainder of semester two and until it is safe for us to resume in a face-to-face mode”.

“Preparations are currently underway to facilitate access to course information via OurVLE and/or Blackboard Collaborate. We encourage all students to make the necessary preparations to access the online learning platforms from their residential locations,” The UWI said.

“We are also preparing for online and alternative assessments (mid-semester exams, final exams, quizzes, etc). The dates of these examinations are still being determined as many courses are harmonised across all the campuses of the UWI, but these dates will be announced at the point of class resumption on April 14, 2020,” it added.

Semester two, which began in January, has subsequently been extended by a tentative four weeks, depending on the efficacy of the online teaching and learning process.

Meanwhile, the university urged students still residing on campus to “return home as soon as possible” in light of the rapidly changing coronavirus situation.

“Whilst we recognise that a small number of students are unable to leave due to unavoidable circumstances, we would like to remind our Jamaican students, in particular, to make the necessary arrangements to leave campus as soon as possible, as it is necessary to reduce the population on campus at this time,” the university said in the website statement.