Students at Victoria University of Wellington will no longer have to attend lectures in person. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Students at Victoria University of Wellington will no longer have to attend lectures in person. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Students at Victoria University of Wellington will no longer be required to attend lectures in person after resisting a call to return to the lecture theatre.
The university announced last year that, with Covid-19 restrictions having eased, all second-year law students would have to attend lectures in person.
The Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) and the Disabled Students’ Association fought back, with VUWSA citing equity and health concerns. It said that, while lecture recordings would be available for those who could not attend, the process of having to apply first for a hardship grant was difficult.
VUWSA president Jessica Ye told NZME last year that the policy ordering students back was “regressive”.
Today she said students had part-time jobs, mental health concerns and other commitments, and having to make a hardship application to watch lectures was “bureaucratic”.
The union, along with various other student associations and advocacy groups, fought the proposal with a petition and open letter to university leaders, successfully getting the policy overturned.
The university worked with the VUWSA to make the changes and consulted with staff and students.
In a statement released today, the union says the academic board has supported universal access to lecture recordings.
Students will not have to attend lectures in person, and if a class cannot be recorded, alternative materials must be provided. Exemptions are still permitted under certain conditions.
The new policy comes into effect next year and will be reviewed in 18 months.
The change will come into effect from next year and be reviewed after 18 months. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Ye said she was “ecstatic” about the decision.
“Overall, [I am] very happy and feeling like this is a win for students.”
A university spokesperson confirmed the policy change, saying it was intended to be a “key enabler of student success and reflects the university’s commitment to providing equitable access to lecture content for all students”.
“It offers additional support to students who may have missed a lecture or need the additional aid and will enhance the overall student experience.”
The official policy document, seen by NZME, details that the change will “ensure students unable to attend synchronous classes due to work, illness [and] disability can maintain continuity in their studies and have certainty around access to course content”.
Exemptions to lecture recording may still be approved under certain conditions.
The petition run by the VUWSA last year to allow universal access to lecture recordings garnered thousands of signatures.
Its open letter to university administrators and leaders said: “Universally accessible lecture recordings are a mainstay that students fundamentally rely on to have an accessible education. Barriers to lecture recordings undermine students’ agency in how they engage with their education.”
Cost-of-living pressures were another reason why various student groups backed universal lecture recordings.
“Barriers to accessing recordings will only disproportionately disadvantage the academic success of our marginalised students,” the letter said. “Students who can regularly show up to their lectures in person and prioritise study over employment or other commitments tend to be the more privileged students.”
The university’s academic board approved the change last week.
In a statement on social media, VUWSA thanked “all the students and student groups who have supported this campaign over the years”.
“Your effort was the difference in achieving this milestone.”
University disability services entity Te Amaru said the change would make a “tremendous difference for disabled students and is a big relief”.
The students’ union had been pushing for the policy change since before the pandemic.
Ye said the university consulted the student body before 2020 to see what would help to support its mental health and academic obligations.
“Overwhelmingly, students said that lecture recordings were the most important thing that would support them.”
The policy says: “Recordings are recognised as supplementary learning resources for personal study and not as a replacement for in-class and/or synchronous learning experiences.”
Azaria Howell is a Wellington-based multimedia reporter with an eye across the region. She joined NZME in 2022 and has a keen interest in city council decisions, social housing and transport.
