Information about the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

All measures will be lifted on campus from Monday 27 September

• Lectures will run with full capacity and the one-meter distance requirement will cease. 
• You still need to stay at home if you are sick, or have symptoms. 
• Remember good hand hygiene. Use the hand sanitizers frequently.

Updated 20 September 2021

Measures and cases at our campuses

Week 37:

Week 36:

Week 35:

Week 34:

Campus Oslo

Tuesday 14 September
- Sosiale medier og nettverk 08.00-09.45 in D3-090

• Follow the guidelines from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI)
  The Norwegian health authorities will follow up persons with confirmed COVID-19 infections. If you have been in close contact with an infected person, you must self-quarantine at home for 10 days. Close contact means less than two meters from an infected person for more than 15 minutes, or direct physical contact.
• Inform BI
  We would like you to inform us if you experience symptoms of the coronavirus. Use the form below to register. BI will follow up affected students and employees.

• Students: register here

• Employees: register here

• Register your symptoms with FHI to help map the outbreak
  In order to map infections, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) asks people with symptoms of the corona-virus to register. This service is only to map infections. You will not be contacted by the medical services, nor will FHI inform people you may have been in contact with. Follow the guidelines form FHI if you believe you may be infected.

At all campuses, there are free quick-test centres, and free self-tests at campus Oslo and Bergen. You can use this if you are symptom-free. If you have symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, you must not show up on campus but take a regular test at a test centre.

SiO test station

As a BI student you can make an appointment to be tested for COVID-19 by SiO’s health services. Please find more information on how to book an appointment and the testing procedures here.

Free quick-test centres

To avoid large infection outbreaks on campus, we encourage all students to get tested regularly. Until further notice, students will be able to get tested at quick-test centres by or close to all of BI's campuses.

Rapid antigen tests give you a green corona pass for 24 hours in helseboka.no.

While waiting for the test result, make sure you keep a distance of at least 2 meters to others at all time. During this period, you cannot participate in the physical lectures, but can participate digitally. If the test is positive, you must leave campus immediately and take an regular test.

BI will not require a negative test to access campus, but students may need a green corona pass to access some events.

Campus Oslo
Students can get tested at the test station through week 38.

The opening hours for the test station in week 38: 
Monday - Friday: 10:00-15:00

Students at campus Oslo can also get self-tests by approaching Infohub. 

Campus Bergen
Students have the opportunity to take a corona test on campus. Dr. Dropin offers a test station on campus through September, Monday-Friday 10-14.

The test centre at Festplassen also has a great capacity for students to get tested. It takes around 10-15 minutes to walk from campus Bergen to Festplassen.

Students at campus Bergen can also get self-tests in the reception on campus. We remind you that wearing a face mask is still mandatory when moving around on campus.

Campus Trondheim 
We have a test station at campus Trondheim in week 35-39. The test station are located at Kroa on campus from kl. 10-16 Monday to Friday. Here you can get tested for free and get a 24 hour green corona certificate (valid in the community).

Trondheim muncipality has also established several rapid test stations where students can get tested.

NB! If you have symptoms, DO NOT use this test station.

Campus Stavanger 
Students can get tested at Strandkaien below Stavanger concert hall between 16:00-20:00.

See other test stations in the region

Self-test for Covid-19 is available for students and employees

These tests are intended for students and employees who come to campus. If you have symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, you must not show up on campus but take a regular test at a test centre.

Self-tests are a supplement to the infection control measures and do not replace regular testing. You need to make a simple registration to receive it.

BI is preparing for an autumn semester with as much physical teaching as possible for the full-time students. At the time of study start (week 34), we expect some restrictions to still be in place, and we are planning for a combination of digital and physical lectures for most study programmes.

Teaching model for full-time students
As a student, you will mainly have weekly lectures in all courses. In addition to lectures, it is also expected that you follow the digital teaching plan in the learning platform. Both lectures and digital teaching follow a progression throughout the semester, so it is important that you follow the set plan. By being active and present, both physically and digitally, you will increase your learning experience and get to know your fellow students better.

Teaching model for Executive students
For Executive students, it is planned for full reopening with physical gatherings on campus, but with an option for digital delivery if required.

Live stream and recording of lectures
We recommend coming to campus to take an active part in the lectures and other campus-based activities. Still, to facilitate for students that are prevented from coming to campus due to the ongoing pandemic, we will offer live streaming of all lectures. You will begiven access to the stream through the timetable on the student portal.

Lectures attended by international students who are prevented from travelling to Norway will also be recorded to ensure an offer across time zones. Please note that recorded lectures will only be offered as long as the pandemic prevents students from travelling to Norway.

Learning resources and course information
All learning resources for your courses can be found on itslearning. This is also where the recordings of the lectures will be posted. Your timetable will be available on the student portal 15 June.

Exams autumn 2021
At this point it has not been decided if BI will offer digital exam options for all courses in the autumn semester. This will be decided within a few weeks after study start in August.

Registration for classes on campus
As long as the pandemic causes restrictions concerned with distancing on campus, there will be registration for physical teaching. We are currently making some adjustments to the registration solution that was implemented autumn 2020. You will be given more information on how the new solution will work well ahead of study start.

FHI will allow students to vaccinate in the city they study in, regardless of their nationally registered address. In addition, students will have the opportunity to get the two vaccine doses set in different cities.

We advise our students to register their request for vaccination in the city they are staying in. The registration will not place you forward in the queue for vaccination, but is especially important for those that are staying in a different city than the one they are nationally registered in.

Oslo

• Register request for vaccination on the city of Oslo's web pages

The city of Oslo offers drop-in for both the first and second dose for all students living in Oslo. 

• The first vaccine dose is offered as a drop-in at the municipality's vaccine centers or by booking an appointment here: https://www.helseboka.app/checkin/staff/922006/login
• If you have received the first vaccine dose in another city, but want the second dose in Oslo, you can register your interest  here: https://www.helseboka.app/checkin/staff/2858577/login
• International students who do not have a Bank-ID or Norwegian identity number need to call the corona helpline at 21 80 21 82 to register their request for vaccination. 

Bergen

• See Bergen municipality's web pages for information regarding the vaccination process. When vaccination has begun on your age group, you can call the corona helpline at 55 56 77 00 to register your request.

Trondheim

• See Trondheim municipality's web pages for information regarding the vaccination process. Students that are staying in Trondheim do not need to register.

Stavanger

• Register request for vaccination at the city of Stavanger's web pages

International students who do not have a Bank-ID or Norwegian identity number need to call the corona helpline at 51 50 72 20 to register their request for vaccination.

Please remember that the local student welfare organisations offer medical services:

Campus Oslo : sio.no
Campus Bergen: sammen.no
Campus Stavanger: studentensbeste.no
Campus Trondheim: sit.no

Student counselling at BI is available by Skype, FaceTime or telephone. Send an email to counselling@bi.no or to The University Chaplain at studentprest@bi.no to make an appointment.

SiO also offers support to students:
https://sio.no/en/health-services/someone-to-talk-to

Please note that campus facilities are only available for students from BI. You are not allowed to admit guests or students from other campuses.

Student ID/access card must be available. Random ID checks may occur to uphold the infection control measures.

From 16 June, it is no longer mandatory to use face masks for either students or staff when they move around in the building. This applies to all campuses. You must still keep 1 meter distance to others. In cases where this is not possible, it is recommended that you wear a face mask.

You are also not required to wear a face mask when seated, provided you are able to maintain a distance of at least 1 meter from those around you. Masks can be picked up at the reception/InfoHub on all campuses. For a face mask to be effective it is important to use it correctly. See more information on NIPH's webpage.

BI’s guidelines for infection prevention and the infection control measures are based on the advice from the health authorities and FHI.

International students with a study contract for the 2021 academic year can enter Norway from August 1, 2021. Please find relevant information for your entry to Norway here. 

We understand that you as students are passionate about the best possible learning outcome. We are as well. Therefore, this spring's teaching and learning activities are planned based on this premise.

Like all other universities and colleges, BI is regarding a somewhat different teaching setup due to the pandemic and has facilitated a combination of physical and digital teaching. Efforts have been made to increase the capacity for streaming and make the necessary adjustments and adaptations so that the teaching will be as good as possible.

The combination of physical and digital lectures will ensure that we deliver a flexible product of high quality to all our students. We work as fast as we can to use the digital teaching methods that are best suited for the course / program you take.

The learning objectives will remain the same even if the delivery is somewhat different than before. The assumption that this is a financial saving for BI and other universities and colleges is incorrect. It is rather the opposite. Like the rest of the sector, we have had to invest significant sums, both in terms of new infrastructure and additional work for our employees.

Let there be no doubt that BI wants to facilitate campus-based teaching. Despite this, we must meet the requirements of keeping at least 1-meter distance. We have therefore had to reduce the capacity of our teaching rooms in line with the government's measures to prevent spread of infection. In periods with high infection rate we will only be able to offer digital teaching. 

Finally, we would like to remind you that BI Norwegian Business School is a self-owned foundation with the purpose of conducting education and research. All value creation at BI is used to strengthen the business, which means that a possible profit provides an opportunity for more research and development of studies.

The changed teaching offer does not entitle to a refund of tuition fees or other costs.

Inquiries are asked to be directed as described on the page Speak up - Complaints about teaching on the Student Portal.

Please make sure you apply with our guidelines to prevent transmission (pdf). Main precautions:

• Stay at home if you are sick. 
• Keep good hand hygiene and cough etiquette. 
• Reduce contact with others. Keep a minimum of one meter distance to others.
• Avoid public transportation in rush hour if possible.

If a student or employee is infected, we kindly ask the person to register on bi.edu. In some cases, BI can also be notified directly by the local health authorities.

BI considers measures especially in those cases where the person in question has been present in teaching from 48 hours before showing symptoms. The following division of responsibilities applies:

Municipality:

• Should a student or employee test positive for COVID-19, this may mean that many or all those present in e.g. lecture will be quarantined by the local health authorities.
• It is the local health authorities (not BI) who coordinates the detection of infection around proven cases, and who assesses whether an entire class / group must be quarantined or not.
• BI's infection control measures lays the foundation and the experience so far is that in most cases whole classes / groups are not quarantined, but those who have been closest to the person in question.
• In some cases, it is unclear who has been sitting next to you, but here compliance with distance and infection control measures will result in a low probability of the spread of infection.
• If you are not contacted by the local health authorities, you are not defined as close contact or quarantined. 

In principle, it is the diagnosing doctor (often a general practitioner, emergency doctor or hospital doctor) who has a duty to carry out infection detection (cf. section 3-6). As a rule, it is the local health authorities who succeed to and coordinates the detection of infections around proven cases. 

BI: 

• Have you been present in e.g. lecture where a person was proven infected, there will still be a probability that you are infected, even if you are not defined as close contact by the local health authorities. This probability is normally considered low. 
• In each individual case, BI will assess the risk of the spread of infection and may decide that the affected class / group must conduct further examinations / teaching digitally over the next 10 days, even if the local health authorities does not impose quarantine.
• As a lecturer, you can still go to work as long as it is in line with BI's infection control measures and you are not quarantined by the local health authorities.
• BI can strongly encourage you as a student not to attend campus but cannot impose this on you. BI will not map close contacts, impose quarantine, or provide information about where the person was sitting. 

Can I go to work / lecture? 
It is referred to in the point above that there is a low probability of infection if you have not been contacted and quarantined by the local health authorities. If you have not been informed of anything else, you can show up physically in teaching, provided that the other infection control measures are complied with.

In those cases where BI decides on digital teaching for classes / groups, this is done for "precautionary" reasons. This means that there is a low probability that you are infected, but you must clarify with the employer etc. whether it is desirable that you show up physically.

The same applies to motility elsewhere in society. For BI's campus, BI's advice and recommendations apply. In addition to this, the individual must also follow the advice from the local health authorities at any given time.

You will always find updated information about the coronavirus at the websites of The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NHI). Including information about the following:

• Facts about the virus
• How to prevent infection
• What to do if you think you may be infected
• Information about quarantine and isolation