Dear Everyone

The holidays are approaching in this uncommon, peculiar year. Many of us had probably been hoping for more positive trends. Unfortunately, the sharp rise in the R number in Greater Copenhagen is causing problems, which is why the Government has once again announced a number of new, more restrictive measures to reduce the transmission rate. Needless to say, we will comply with these urgent recommendations in the hope that we, along with the rest of the educational sector, can help improve the situation and help the return to a more open society in Denmark in the new year.

These precautions apply from  7 December 2020 and, for the time being, until 2 January 2021. The precautions do not apply to Bornholm.

Please take a deep breath and thoroughly familiarise yourselves with this new situation. We have persevered and actually thought the situation was easing up, but we have now been hit by a second wave which we must get through as well. Fortunately and hopefully, there is light at the end of the tunnel! We appreciate your patience – and hope it will last for just a few more months. Do not hesitate to reach out for help if you need it and get in touch with your immediate supervisor if you have any questions.

New precautions

The following new precautions are being implemented at the Royal Danish Academy based on the Government’s statements. The precautions should be seen in light of the fact that, in relation to our size, we have twice as many cases of infection as the universities and that the number of new cases rose sharply in November – more sharply than the rise in the surrounding community. In other words, we are implementing these precautions to avoid a complete lockdown.

Students and educational activities

• Basically, all students are being sent home and all educational activities will be conducted online.
• However, it will be possible to physically attend school one day a week for drawing-desk classes, critique and visits to workshops or labs.  The rest of the time, work must be done from home.
• We are reducing the maximum size of fixed groups from 30 to 10.
• We are reducing the capacity of workshops, so access may have to be prioritised.
• All exams in December, January and February will be conducted online. This will also enable students who are in quarantine to participate on equal footing with the rest of the students.
• The exceptions are final BA examinations (5th semester) and graduation examinations (MA, 4th semester) in January which will be conducted with digital submission, physical presence and the possibility of bringing objects.

Exceptions

• Students in the process of finishing their BA thesis project (5th semester) or graduation thesis project (MA, 4th semester) will have the option of physically attending drawing-desk classes, critique and visits to workshops or labs two days a week. 
• Ongoing supplementary training/post-graduate activities, field projects, etc., will be carried out according to an individual assessment.

Teachers

Teachers are only allowed to be on campus to conduct educational activities that specifically require their physical attendance. Planning, meetings, etc., are to be held online.

Researchers

Physical attendance is possible only if the research activities specifically require physical attendance, such as for conducting experiments in labs or workshops.  Research/artistic research requiring physical attendance must be assessed together with the local head of the institute and, if possible, it should be postponed until after 1 January.

Administration staff

Wherever possible, everyone must work from home. This means that the recently implemented option of being at the workplace part-time has been cancelled.

Meetings

All internal meetings must be held online. For instance, it is not permitted to hold in-person staff meetings, programme meetings or institute-wide meetings.

In exceptional cases, employees may take part in external meetings with only a few participants, but this requires the specific permission of TF2. Permission will not be granted to take part in conferences, public meetings, or similar.

Foreign students

Many foreign students will have difficulty travelling home to their families for the holidays. Fellow students are urged to be particularly aware of this and invite them to their home for Christmas, if the number of participants does not exceed the recommended number.

Social events

As already announced, all social events are cancelled– without exception. This is also true of any planned academic Christmas events.

Campus

Opening hours

The campus is open Monday–Friday from 9 am to 4 pm for students and 8 am to 5 pm for employees. Students and employees may only be on campus if they have a specific purpose.

Workshops, campus, IT

Employees may only be present to the extent necessary to be able to conduct educational activities and research requiring physical attendance.

Cafeteria

The cafeteria has been allowed to close down until 1 January, if they prefer. If they choose to stay open, the cafeteria’s dining areas will be closed, so that it will not be possible to use the cafeteria area for eating meals, etc.

Library

The library will be open Monday–Friday from 9 am – 4 pm during which time it will be possible to return and borrow books and get advice and guidance from a librarian in a ‘channelled-flow’ library – but without being able to stay in the library.

IT helpdesk

Open weekdays for everyone, but an appointment must be made in advance.

Kind regards,
Lene Dammand Lund, Jakob Brandtberg Knudsen, chairman of Task Force 2 for Safe Reopening, and Lise Møller Eriksson, chairwoman of the AMO organisation.