Confusion still reigns on new college year

NUI Galway has confirmed that students will return on September 28 – but confusion over the level of online learning has left many students questioning if they will require rental accommodation for the coming academic year.

President of the NUI Galway Students’ Union Pádraic Toomey said the apparent lack of demand for student beds thus far indicated that many were holding off until there was more clarity around the return to college, as the university grapples with the return of classes while adhering to Covid-19 restrictions.

“The university has promised us more information towards the end of this month – we need the university to provide us with that as quickly as possible.

“We have a lot of students contacting us to ask questions about whether they should get accommodation or not and we can’t give them advice because at the moment, we have as much information as they do,” said Mr Toomey.

He said while the majority of student-specific accommodation in the city was currently full, with waiting lists in operation, the usual scramble for private rentals had yet to materialise, “but people are probably not as quick to start this year”.

So far, the university has clarified that all taught programmes will be delivered in a blend of online and on-campus classes.

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