Dear staff,
Over the past 24 hours, there has again been an extraordinary amount of work done by our staff to clean up areas and make sure they are safe to access. This morning when I visited St Lucia, it was a great pleasure to thank some of these staff and students in person, along with the staff providing support to our students.
For those I didn’t get to see, on behalf of our UQ community, I would like to sincerely thank you for all your work over the past five days, under such extreme conditions that at every turn were throwing us new challenges.
As a result of these heroic efforts, we are in a position to reopen some UQ locations from tomorrow, Thursday 3 March. We are hopeful that by next Monday 7 March, we should have all UQ locations in South East Queensland open.
We have established a new website that provides more detailed information for staff and students. This website will continue to be updated with the latest information. Below is a snapshot of where we are.
- Our Gatton campus will remain closed for the rest of the week. If you require access, you must seek University Senior Leadership Group approval and consult with the Gatton Campus Director (director@uq.edu.au) to confirm accessibility, no-go areas and health/safety measures.
- St Lucia, Herston, Long Pocket and Toowong will open from tomorrow under restricted access protocols for staff and students, with absolute no-go areas in force.
- Staff in all locations are encouraged to continue working remotely for the rest of this week.
- Staff needing to collect essential equipment or items from UQ locations must first check access protocols and no-go areas.
- Access for research staff remains at level 3 critical research, where it is safe.
- All teaching is paused for the week. Week 2 teaching will now commence on Monday 7 March.
The academic calendar is currently being adjusted to reflect the new Semester 1 dates and will be published online in the coming days.
Students needing support and advice should contact our Student Services team. The website contains additional information on support available to students.
The website also includes details of disaster relief grants available for those affected by the severe storms and flooding. It also provides links to initiatives and programs to help support members of the community and the clean-up operation.
While there has been great progress in restoring our sites and facilities, I am aware that more severe storms are forecast across the South East Queensland area in the coming days and significant rainfall could present new challenges if it coincides with high tides.
As the clean-up continues, we will keep a close eye on the forecasts and update our community about any changes.
Thank you again to our very own ‘mud army’ for the tremendous progress in getting us back on campus as soon as possible.
Stay safe.
With best wishes,
Debbie
