This article was originally published in Farrago Edition Three 2023: Analog. Read the full issue online here.

With the days of strict lockdowns and cautious safety measures seemingly behind us, the University of Melbourne has implemented a return to full on-campus learning for all undergraduate and most postgraduate courses.

For many students, however, this is still not possible; they have spoken out about the difficulties of returning to campus, and their need for online teaching options.

On campus-teaching stopped at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 to avoid further spreading of the virus. However, as the pandemic continued and lockdowns were lifted, the University gradually returned to providing more on-campus options, creating a hybrid teaching system called ‘’dual-delivery’’ where students studying the same unit could choose between online or on-campus classes.

The dual-delivery system remained an option into the 2022 academic year, but was scheduled to be scrapped for undergraduate students at the start of the first semester of 2023.

Hiba Adam, President of the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) said this was an essential accessibility issue as dual delivery improves access to education for those who are unable to attend classes on-campus.

According to Adam, a lot of students discovered the advantages of the dual-delivery system during the pandemic, with it appearing to be a potential ongoing option to help students who encounter obstacles to attending campus every day.

Consequently, UMSU and UMSU International organised a petition last semester rallying for the dual delivery system to remain as a permanent fixture. Despite receiving a high number of signatures, the petition did not have much success, as the University believes on-campus attendance and campus life should be prioritised in order to create a successful student experience.

“We are in week one of the start of our academic year and continue to welcome all our students back to our campuses, so they can engage with the whole University community and make the most of all that campus life has to offer”, a University of Melbourne spokesperson said.

Adam said that UMSU believed this approach was unfair to international students stuck abroad and local students who are facing other obstacles to attending campus.

“They should also have the option to not miss out on their education, and not feel like they have to catch up,” she said.

One of those local students is J, a third year psychology student. He suffers from multiple chronic health conditions that impact his heart and immune system. The symptoms of this health condition, and his fear of the severe impacts that the still-prevalent COVID-19 virus would have on his body if he were to catch it, make it difficult for him to travel to campus and are negatively impacting his studies.

With the removal of dual-delivery, he says he feels like “the University has disregarded [student] safety”.

Another student who did not wish to be named, in her second year of a Media and Communications major, spoke to Farrago about her struggles with juggling work and studies. For monetary reasons, she aimed to pursue a double major, a study load which she could only fit around her work schedule through the added flexibility of online  dual-delivery classes. As a result of the University abandoning dual delivery, she had to drop one of her majors.

“So essentially, I’m gonna be undertrained, which is really frustrating,” she said.

She described the option of online classes as very important to ensure all students are able to continue their studies.

“The removal of dual delivery is making higher education less accessible.”

“Tertiary education is already one of the most inaccessible pursuits in this country, in both a monetary and educational sense, and this is just driving the stakes further,” she said.

In response to Farrago’s enquiries, a University of Melbourne spokesperson stated that it is possible for students in these situations to make adjustments “on a case-by-case basis”. 

“We recommend students to review our student support page for more information.”

However, both students interviewed pointed out difficulties in getting this support from the University.

J recounted that he tried to reach out to Student Equity and Disability Services, Stop 1 and individual subject professors about this issue, without much success.

“It’s basically just telling us, ‘you’re being punished for not conforming to society’s standards, for not trying hard enough.’”

When asked about further actions, Hiba Adam said that she felt the University was set on its decision.

“There is nothing further that we [UMSU] will be doing. We’ve done the petitions, we’ve rallied people, we’ve spoken multiple times to the University… but they are very set on in-person, campus-based education.”

“[Dual delivery] will be on a case-by-case basis. That is the best deal we are able to get out of it.”