Uni is happy, despite some teething problems
Quarter of students got tested in first week of pilot
The first testing lane for students opened up on Monday, January 18, at Zernike. For now, it’s still a pilot programme. UG and Hanze students who had to sit on-site exams last week were invited to undergo a speed test beforehand.
A total of 413 UG students were invited. With participation being voluntary, 93 of them actually went to Zernike to get tested. The university is happy with the numbers.
Students in possession of a negative test result, which was valid for twenty-four hours, were allowed to sit an exam scheduled for the same day. Anyone who tested positively for the virus had to go home and take their exam online. It’s unknown if any students tested positively. ‘We can’t say anything about that’, a UG spokesperson said.
Teething problems
There were some teething problems. Several students who’d been invited but not actually tested received a message saying their test was negative. It turned out the system scheduling appointments had some issues with mutations.
Students whose appointments had been moved were automatically sent a message about their negative results. This issue was later fixed. ‘It’s a good thing we started out with a small group. We’re learning’, the spokesperson said.
As it stands, the facility can process one hundred students a day. After next week, the UG and Hanze would like to increase the capacity by processing a single student in eight minutes. Right now, the processing time is ten minutes.
The Zernike pilot is part of a larger project by the ministry of education in an effort to return to on-site educational activities.