University students will start returning to campus on Monday after it was confirmed they will have in-person lectures during the upcoming school year. 

In a statement, the University of Malta said new students will "enjoy" the traditional Freshers’ Week organised by KSU on the quadrangle with lectures then starting on October 11.

"An opening ceremony to herald the new academic year will be held on October 4," the university said after a senate meeting on Thursday. 

Because of the pandemic, university students were unable to return to campus last year and had to follow lectures online.

Earlier this week, students called on the university to ensure this would not be the case again this year, especially since most students were now vaccinated. 

There were also concerns over space issues since a number of lecture halls were taken up for pandemic-related activities. This includes the walk-in vaccination centre at the university's entrance. 

"UM will make use of all available spaces to cater for students’ needs including the new lecture halls that were recently built at the Campus Hub. 

"With some faculties having hundreds of students enrolled in their programmes of study, UM will introduce a P-R model (physical-remote) which will allow large classes to be split into manageable sub-groups so that in a given week, a group will attend lectures on campus while the rest will follow proceedings remotely," the university said.

The sub-groups will be alternating so that every student will have the opportunity to attend classes in person "to experience traditional student life".

A hybrid system has also been introduced for evening courses. Evening students will now be offered a blended approach and will only need to attend physical lectures once a week instead of twice. The second session will be delivered remotely.