After months of suspension of physical classes, universities across the UAE have noted that a majority of students are back for in-person lectures this month. Deans have hailed the high vaccination rates that helped in returning to in-person during the new semester. As per latest statistics, 78 percent of the UAE population has been vaccinated with both doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

"Vaccinations are helping students and staff to feel they can safely return to campus," universities said.

At Heriot-Watt University Dubai, about 90 percent of their 4,000 students are expected to return on campus for physical learning this week.

“It is the largest cohort since the pandemic started - a significant increase from last year. There are some exceptions, such as some international students for whom travel restrictions have not yet been lifted," Tadhg O’Donovan, acting deputy vice principal, said.

At the onset of the pandemic, the university switched to online learning. As economic activities started to return to normal, the university shifted to a hybrid learning model in September 2020.

All universities across the UAE ensured specific safety protocols to ensure the health and wellbeing of students and staff. O'Donovan added that universities implemented crowd management protocols in common areas such as cafeterias, elevators and entry points among other measures to ensure a safe and healthy education environment.

"While preparing for the return of students, another challenge was creating a sanitisation roster and making sure classrooms were disinfected after each lecture," he underlined.

UAE University is looking forward to the return of almost 14,000 students on campus. The university has implemented protocols to facilitate study in groups and at different times of the day or week with the aim of preventing large gatherings.

20-year-old Emmanuel Rick Almeida is one of the students at Murdoch University who attended online classes last year after his university shifted to remote learning.

"We did not have a choice last year because the university was offering online learning due to COVID-19 cases. I am back for in-person classes now," Almeida said expressing excitement on returning to in-person learning.

Reportedly, the student has been fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer vaccine. He had expressed his willingness to return to on-campus learning, explaining that it helps in better understanding the topic, asking questions and clearing doubts.

Meanwhile, some universities are continuing with online learning when there are too many students in one room. According to Dr Naeema Al Darmaki, dean of student life at UAE University, classes with over 35 students were shifted to online automatically to keep students safe.

"Our concern comes from when students get together. We make sure we have allocated places in case someone has been a primary or secondary contact," Dr Al Darmaki added.

The university is also organising regular risk meetings and ensuring data collection to promote safety and wellbeing of all students and staff.

At Ajman University, the number of students who returned for face-to-face classes in campus doubled this year. Last year, only 10 percent of the 6,000 students enrolled at the university were able to attend in-person classes, while this term saw upto 20 percent of students returning to the campus.

"A university without students is missing a major component, which is the physical presence of students. It brings life to the university," said Dr Khaled Assaleh, vice chancellor for academic affairs at Ajman University.

In this term, most practical sessions will take place on campus, while theoretical classes will he held online. Dr Assaleh underlined that high levels of vaccination have facilitated the return of students to campus.

The university has called on all students to get vaccinated against COVID-19. As part of these efforts, the university has organised raffles and prizes for immunised students reporting their vaccination status on the system.

Canadian University Dubai is also seeing more immunised students returning to classes. The university is ensuring the implementation of health and safety guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education and other relevant national authorities.

"With this positive trend, we hope that at least 90 per cent of CUD students will be back to campus-based learning by the end of the current enrolment period," said Dr Rami El Khatib, vice president of student affairs at Canadian University Dubai.

University of Birmingham Dubai will resume in-person classes on September 19 and is looking forward to welcoming a huge majority of students on the new campus.

"We are in the fortunate position of having a brand-new campus, which will have a capacity of more than 2,000 students when it opens. The purpose-built facilities offer a huge amount of space, so we are in a good position to ensure all guidelines and regulations around social distancing are met," Chris Taylor, head of student recruitment at the university.

The National