As we prepare for the start of term we are providing important reminders for students and employees who will be studying or working on campus this Fall.

Niagara College has implemented a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy in response to the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, in consultation with public health authorities and at the direction of the province of Ontario. You can view Niagara College’s COVID-19 vaccination policy here. The policy applies to all students, employees contractors and official visitors who are attending a Niagara College campus as of September 7, 2021.

Important Reminder: Check the status of your vaccine documents

If you are working or studying on campus starting next week, you have been advised of the requirement to submit documentation via the student or employee portal. Once you’ve done so, an important reminder to confirm that your vaccine documentation has been approved. This can be done via the student or employee portal by clicking the “Vaccine Policy Documentation” link. The status column will be marked as ‘approved,’ ‘pending,’ ‘rejected’ or ‘flagged for review.’ If the status is ‘rejected,’ it will indicate the reason for rejection, which must be addressed before you can access campus. Common issues that lead to documentation being rejected include:

• Legibility (documents are unreadable);
• Validity (ie: not government-issued, or not in English or French);
• Names on the documents don’t match names on College records.

New: Mandatory Testing

On August 31, the province of Ontario notified all colleges and universities in the province that, in addition to having mandatory vaccine policies in place, colleges and universities must require individuals who are only partially vaccinated or who have an approved exemption to “submit to regular antigen point of care testing for COVID 19 and demonstrate a negative result at … a minimum of every seven days,” and “provide verification of the negative test result in a manner determined by the (College).”

If you are a student or employee to whom this new provincial requirement will apply, you will be contacted directly, and you will be provided with further information on the College’s processes for testing and submitting an attestation of negative test results in the coming days, including how and where you can access testing. Once this process is underway, those who have provided vaccine documentation and are not fully vaccinated, AND those who have been approved for an exemption must provide Niagara College with an attestation of a negative test result at least every seven days, and in some cases every day that you attend campus, until you have provided proof of full vaccination (two doses, and 14 days have elapsed), or until further notice if you have been exempted from the mandatory vaccination policy on medical or religious/creed grounds. In the meantime, current access procedures and requirements will remain in place.

Niagara College’s mandatory vaccine policy will be updated to reflect this new provincial requirement as of September 7.

Update: Exemptions

Niagara College’s COVID-19 Vaccination Policy also outlines how employees and students who are not vaccinated due to medical or other grounds recognized by the Ontario Human Rights Code can request an exemption. Application forms can be found here.

Those who have applied for an exemption under the grounds outlined above will be contacted directly when their application has been reviewed and approved or denied. If your application has been denied or you have not received confirmation that your application for an exemption has been approved, you will not be approved for access to campus until your application has been approved.

If your exemption has been approved, you will receive further information regarding additional requirements for campus access, including the provincial testing requirement outlined above.

Access to campus

If you have not uploaded proof of vaccination or if your proof of vaccination has not been approved or if you have applied for an exemption but it has been denied or has not yet been approved, please do not come to campus as you will not be permitted access.

FAQs regarding Niagara College’s mandatory vaccination policy can be found here.

As the Spring season approaches, planning is underway for our convocation ceremonies this June, and we look forward to celebrating the hard-earned accomplishments of NC’s Class of 2021.

With the health and safety of our college community the top priority during COVID-19, and with physical distancing and limited gathering measures remaining in place, NC’s Spring Convocation Ceremonies will once again take a virtual format.

During the week of June 21 to 25, highly interactive and engaging ceremonies will be live streamed from NC’s Welland Campus. President Sean Kennedy and vice president, Academic, Fiona Allan will take to the convocation stage each day to deliver the ceremonies and celebrate with students, virtually.

“Although the current circumstances prevent us from celebrating in person, we are working ‘NC together’ to create a memorable celebration of our students and their remarkable accomplishments as they embark on the next chapter of their lives,” said president Kennedy.

Building on the success of NC’s Virtual Convocation Ceremonies in 2020, which drew tens of thousands of views from across Niagara, Canada and around the world, this year’s celebrations will feature the innovative elements from the previous events and incorporate new enhancements.

Through NC’s Virtual Convocation, graduates are invited to be active participants in their ceremony. As they participate from the comfort of home, graduates can connect with their fellow classmates and faculty through program Zoom parties and become convocation content creators through a custom social media experience. Using the hashtag #NCGrad2021, graduates can share photos and videos of their at-home convocation celebrations, which will be integrated into the live ceremonies in real-time. Select clips from the Zoom parties will also be incorporated into the livestream, enabling graduates to make an on-screen appearance.

Further details regarding virtual convocation, including ceremony times, schedules and a special guest speaker, will be available in the coming weeks.

Students should also be advised that May 31, 2021 is the deadline to meet graduation requirements to be included in our Spring Virtual Convocation Ceremonies. Please review your MyNC account to ensure your final grades are submitted before this date.

Visit niagaracollege.ca/virtualconvocation/ for updates.