Our plans to reopen campus: essential vaccination info
**UPDATED – 13 October 2021**
As we continue planning to reopen our campuses in line with the Victorian Government Roadmap, we want to give you as much certainty as possible about the remainder of 2021.
Our focus is on ensuring that life on campus returns as fully as possible from the beginning of 2022. What is becoming clearer is that public spaces will increasingly be available only to those who are fully vaccinated.
We all want Deakin to be the safest possible environment for study and work, which means getting as close as possible to full vaccination for all our community.
With this in mind, we’re setting out to ensure that Deakin will be a fully vaccinated study and work environment for all staff and students, and we strongly encourage you to get vaccinated as soon as you’re eligible.
Remember: regardless of any current restrictions, you’re allowed to leave home and travel to get vaccinated, although if you live in metropolitan Melbourne you’re not allowed to travel to regional Victoria for a vaccination.
Vaccination status and campus access
The following timeline explains the staged approach we’re taking to opening our campuses for those who are vaccinated. We’ll also continue to implement all recommended measures to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission on campus, such as masks, density limits and hand sanitiser.
From Friday October 15
- In line with public health orders, students undertaking a Victorian placement within these listed industries from Friday 15 October to Friday 5 November must provide evidence of vaccination to Deakin before 15 October.
- Students attending Burwood Campus during this same time for permitted learning activities must still provide an Approved Worker Permit. Students can access our regional campuses for permitted learning without the need to carry an Authorised Worker Permit, as per current restrictions.
- All students undertaking placement activities will need to have evidence of having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. This is a public health order and as such is mandatory.
From the start of Trimester 3, Friday 5 November
- All Deakin campuses will be open to fully vaccinated people.
- Some areas of campus – for example, cafes and some other public spaces – will not be accessible to those who are not fully vaccinated and do not hold a valid medical exemption. This will be determined by regulations in the Victorian Government Roadmap.
- You’ll continue to study online for the remainder of 2021.
- Experiential learning activities will be scheduled on campus from Monday 22 November for fully vaccinated students.
From Monday 31 January 2022
- In T1/S1 2022, we’re getting back to campus: many classes, seminars and hands-on learning activities will be delivered in person. This will continue to be underpinned by Deakin’s digital learning environment, with students and teachers actively collaborating to bring learning to life.
- All on-campus students will be expected to be fully vaccinated.
- Cloud students may continue their studies online without vaccination, but we strongly encourage vaccination for the entire Deakin community.
Vaccination exemptions
Vaccination exemptions will be managed on a case-by-case basis. We’ll carefully consider all requested exemptions to this approach, including if:
- you have a medical exemption
- you’re not yet fully vaccinated for the period between 5 November and 31 January.
We’ll provide more information on how to request an exemption soon.
Stay up to date
Government regulations are changing often, so we’ll update you whenever any new rules affect you. Stay up to date with the latest information on our COVIDSafe website.