Dear: Students and Parents,

During last night’s address to the nation by President Cyril Ramaphosa he announced a 2-week extension of the national lockdown until 30 April at midnight.

In reference to our previous communications this email serves as confirmation to all our students, that we commence online classes on 15 April 2020 for full-time classes and 18 April 2020 for part-time classes.

Class schedules & online platforms

Online class schedules have already been published for students on Canvas. Full-time students should please check their schedules on Canvas regularly, as these are being updated, to avoid missing any online sessions.

Microsoft Teams will be used in conjunction with Zoom Video Communications to conduct our online classes. Students will receive an invitation to the online classes in Microsoft Teams through their Belgium Campus student e-mail accounts only. You will only be able to login to Microsoft Teams classes using your Microsoft Office account credentials that were provided during your enrolment at our institution. If you are experiencing any Microsoft account-related problems or any other technical issues during this period of online classes, you should please contact support@belgiumcampus.ac.za

Since our institution have received communication from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) regarding COVID-19 and the investigation of online classes; the faculty has been preparing short videos, presentations and exercises that will be uploaded on the Microsoft Teams classes. Microsoft Teams will allow students to view which students they have class with if they want to assist or collaborate with their peers/class mates. The live classes, utilising Zoom, will be recorded and uploaded on Microsoft Streams, which can be accessed using your online office 365 account.

Class schedules & online platforms

Microsoft Teams also has built-in analytical tools that our faculty members can use to determine which students attended the online classes and viewed content after online classes. For students that cannot access the online courses due to lack of access to data, double classes will be scheduled when contact classes may resume offering the opportunity to catch up (see

Faculty Calendar). Once we receive more communication and instruction from the DHET regarding the return of students to campus we will open classes for resident students to access online classes at the campus while ensuring that we practise strict social distancing and hygienic measures as advised by Department of Health and the World Health Organisation, however this will only be applied if and when the DHET instructs us to do so.

Class schedules & online platforms

As per previous Belgium Campus COVID-19 communication (8), an instructional document detailing the specifics of both Microsoft Teams and Zoom Video Communications platforms, that all students familiarise themselves with these platforms prior to the start of classes, has been uploaded to Canvas and can be accessed at the following link: https://portal.belgiumcampus.ac.za/courses/3/discussion_topics/820

Structured training will also be provided during your first online class.

Class schedules & online platforms

We also require students to monitor the online calendar on the Belgium Campus website as some changes will be made on the faculty calendar regarding study leave, examination blocks and recess periods; to ensure that your academic programme for this year is not affected.

If you experience any difficulties or require assistance, please send an email to: kritzinger.t@belgiumcampus.ac.za

Should we receive any further communication from the Government that will require us to change our approach, you will be informed timeously via your student emails and our Belgium Campus iTversity website.

Yours sincerely,

Belgium Campus iTversity Management