After more than a year of virtual learning, Memorial University students are expected to be back on their England campus this fall.

However, like most else, MUN's campus in Harlow hasn't been functioning as it did prior to the pandemic and will remain mostly empty for the time being. 

"Since the pandemic started it's been quiet. When it hit in early 2020 there was a couple of groups of students here," William Lawton, the Harlow campus academic director, told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

"But they headed back to Newfoundland in the middle of March just before the U.K. lockdown." 

The Harlow campus acts as a study abroad destination for students and also aids in student work placements.

MUN celebrated the campus's 50th year in service in 2019. 

Lawton said the only group of students that have been through the campus since the pandemic began were nursing students from India who used the campus as a place to stay while on a work placement at a nearby hospital. The only people left on campus right now are some in administration. 

Returning to normal

Students will eventually return, according to Lawton, but when exactly that will happen is still up in the air.

Lawton said he expects groups of students to slowly trickle in over 2022. 

"It might be January, and it might be around Easter time," he said. 

Meanwhile, theatre arts students at MUN's Grenfell campus in Corner Brook have missed out on one of the highlights of the program — an annual semester of learning in Harlow, which is about 50 kilometres northeast of London.

Jerry Etienne, chair of MUN's Grenfell campus theatre arts program, said the experience is life-changing for students who get to take in and learn from some of the world's most prestigious theatre productions in London's west end.

"They really get a chance to experience the very ... best in the craft that they've been working on for four years," Etienne said.

"When we go to England, we see shows all over the west end. They get to see beautiful theatres. They get to travel to Stratford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare did all of his stuff."