UCL confirms face-to-face teaching for 2022/23

University College London (UCL) confirms in-person teaching as the default mode of classes for the 2022/23 academic year. 

On 24 March, Provost Michael Spence commemorated the fact that it has been two years since the UK’s first nation-wide lockdown, noting the level of disruption at which academic institutions worldwide have been faced. More recently, on 11 April, the Student Union announced that the Education Committee has approved a return to face-to-face teaching as the default mode of learning at UCL, promising an optimistic post-pandemic academic experience. 

As the world moves into the third year of the pandemic, academic institutions have also learned to retain the hybrid models of learning adopted at the height of the pandemic. 

Contact hours or on-campus activities such as lectures, seminars, tutorials, labs, practicals, studios and workshops will return as in-person sessions. 

The pandemic has reframed the way that both learning and social engagement are approached in higher education. The Education Committee has stated that some beneficial modes of learning introduced during the pandemic,  such as the recording of in-person and large group teaching (e.g. lectures) will be maintained coming out of online teaching. Exams will also remain mostly online. 

The pandemic has shown how the learning environment can encompass a variety of teaching methods. Students can expect that face-to-face teaching will be enriched by online materials and activities to aid academic success. This may include, for example, pre-recorded videos, readings and a range of interactive activities that can act as preparation or follow-up to in-person teaching. ‘Live’ online lectures will also continue to be used, for example, when an external guest speaker is unable to attend in-person or if a member of the teaching staff is required to isolate. 

Pre-recorded content and other online learning tools will remain a part of the fabric of the academic experience as UCL makes a transition out of a curriculum facilitated predominantly online because of the pandemic. 

Overall, students should expect similar amounts of in-person, on-campus contact time to those that students received before the pandemic.