non-US universities now

[Caracal]

I think some of the smaller schools in the Maritime provinces (St. FX, Acadia, etc.) are in person, but the Maritime provinces have had very few cases (and very strict rules about people coming into the provinces. i.e. If you arrive from out of province, you have to go into a two week quarantine). Most of those students live on campus.
My (mostly commuter) school is online--except for some courses in things like Nursing. And I think the Education students still go out into the schools for practicum, which is an outbreak waiting to happen.

Well, what's the alternative. They just don't get any of the experience? It would be nice to think this will all be over in the Spring, but you have to plan for it to last longer and that means figuring out what kind of things absolutely need to take place in person and which don't. You already have teachers and kids in schools, so I can't imagine that having a few education students going in once a week is going to result in a widespread outbreak. This, of course, presupposes that case rates are down to some level that makes school openings reasonable.

I'd hope that students who have health conditions or live with people at higher risk are allowed to do the practicum over zoom or something, or delay it if feasible, but it seems potentially as important as the nursing stuff taking place.

[Morden]

Hi Caracal, You're right; they need the experience. I meant that the schools were an outbreak waiting to happen (and the schools have started declaring outbreaks in the past week).

[zyzzx]

The plan over here is to have a mix. Large classes online, as they can't fit anywhere while staying distanced. Some smaller classes in person (in the largest rooms), with priority on getting students at the start and end of their degree in some in-person classes. But they are still on break here, and the semester doesn't start until November, so who knows what will happen between now and then. With the current state of things, I think it would be ok, at least in my region. Regular schools have been open for weeks, and they appear to be testing and tracing well enough to catch cases before they become outbreaks. Our numbers are up a bit since mid-summer, but holding pretty steady, unlike in some neighboring countries. The rise seems to be largely due to people bringing it back from holidays, and not from the schools. 

Of course, our context is very different - university is free, campus housing isn't a thing, many (most?) students are local, and the college experience also isn't a thing (no Greek stuff, no college sports, etc etc). In terms of social life, I'd guess that the university being open or not really wouldn't make much difference to a majority of students.

[MarathonRunner]

Everything is online at my university in my province in Canada with the exception of health care professional programs whose students need hands-on clinical learning, like nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, physical therapy, etc. Even so, their in-person labs have been significantly reduced to essential-only. Placements are also local as opposed to cross-Canada. Students had to quarantine for 14 days before any in-person activities.