DCU’s School of Law and Government is delivering its taught masters’ programmes fully online in 2020-2021, through a combination of live and recorded lectures, online discussions and forums, as well as individual and group assignments.

This includes the MA in Data Protection and Privacy Law, the MA in European Law and Policy and the LLM Master of Laws.

The news follows the recnt announcement that the college has cancelled Erasmus study periods abroad for the upcoming academic year.

It will also move to ‘hybrid’ learning for all students when the first semester commences on 5 October.  

Orientation

Contingent on the timelines for Leaving Certificate results and CAO offers, first year undergraduates will begin two weeks earlier on 21 September with a phased programme of orientation on campus and specific supports for students to prepare them for online learning.

DCU says it expects that social distancing requirements will operate through the rest of 2020 and into 2021.

It will bring students and staff physically on to campus only when it is safe to do so and following HSE and Department of Health guidance.

All large lectures are cancelled but there will be face-to-face laboratory classes, practical sessions, and small group interactions. 

These plans will also entail revisions to the academic calendar, changes to programme structures, and new approaches to the use of space on campus.

Elsewhere, observers have questioned whether fully-online third-level education will hold its value without an on-campus element, in the post-pandemic era.

NYU professor and tech industry pundit Scott Galloway believes that the pandemic will reshape higher education in the US, and that many lower-tier colleges will not survive.

Galloway predicts an alignment between large tech companies and elite third-level institutions, delivering online qualifications to dramatically-increased college enrolments.