The University of Illinois System is planning to expand in-person instruction next fall across universities that are already a model for both safety and hybrid learning through a homegrown COVID-19 testing protocol that held campus positivity rates in check this year.

President Tim Killeen said plans would restore in-person learning for a majority of classes and labs next fall in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield. The approach will be based on the success of the breakthrough covidSHIELD testing and the growing surge of vaccinations in Illinois and across the country. Special hybrid and online provisions will be made for large lecture-style courses, based on public health guidance. 

“Barring a marked change in the pandemic’s current trajectory, we intend to welcome students back to a more traditional, more personal campus experience next fall,” Killeen said. “I am proud that the U of I community played a key role in making it happen – from our brilliant researchers in Urbana-Champaign who created covidSHIELD to our dedicated healthcare team in Chicago that hosted trials for vaccines to Springfield faculty who shared their leading-edge expertise in hybrid learning.”

The U of I System has been cited as a national leader after its breakthrough saliva-based testing allowed a hybrid mix of in-person and online classes throughout the entire 2020-21 academic year while other universities remained online or wrestled with COVID outbreaks.

Widespread testing with rapid results held campus positivity rates low with no major outbreaks, even as state and national rates rose into double digits at the height of the pandemic. Rates have held under 1 percent recently in Urbana-Champaign, home of the most aggressive testing regimen. 

The success of covidSHIELD has attracted global interest. It has been shared with more than 40 universities, schools, businesses and units of government, and use is expected to grow through an emergency use authorization approved this month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.