Will other unis follow Cambridge and say no face to face lectures for the whole of next year?

[WhatP1antWhere]

If so won’t that cause huge levels of deferring and a tight squeeze on places for the following years coming up. Places will surely go to those who have deferred first.Just feeling for year 11. Exams cancelled, no support from schools, term ending early, Alevels courses going to be disrupted and potentially now huge competition for uni places.

[attackedbycritters]

Would be far better if they could test all new arrivals and have regular random testing of students

[StrawberryBlondeStar]

Cambridge have only said lectures won’t be face to face. Lectures are only a tiny part of teaching at Oxbridge. Far more teaching goes on in small tutorial groups. They aren’t saying they won’t have students at the university or small groups (they’ve made that announcement today). The advantage of lectures not going on is that small groups can use those rooms so facilitate social distancing.

[WhatP1antWhere]

Interview on BBC had a student saying many were thinking of deferring even those half way through degrees. They said online learning not the same or as good and want the campus experience.

[Stuffofawesome]

Some planning on line first term then review. Some planning practical subjects back first. If I was supposed to go this year I would. Save a lot of money on living costs and get going on your degree. What else will you do other than sit around? Can't travel not much work around and like you say competition will be high next year.
I do think the unis could be more creative in their approach though. Maybe only half fill halls of residence with extra cleaning, use masks hand washing stations everywhere etc.
Really sucks they miss the fresher stuff but that's living in a pandemic

[AlltheLemurs]

At our university we have been told that due to social distancing rules only 25 people can sit in a 250 seat lecture theatre. That is not going to be special to us.

Small group teaching will go ahead as normal and they will be in even smaller groups due to social distancing.

So there will be face to face teaching and students may get more attention. I do think that lectures are quite old fashioned and not the best way of teaching.

We are likely to have some students on and some off campus due to shielding etc.

A lot of universities won’t allow deferrals. If you don’t come you lose your place. It is much easier for places like Cambridge to say that though.

[ScrapThatThen]

It's also a pretty rubbish time for a year off so maybe not many will defer. The clarification about it being lectures only is useful.

[BlueBrian]

When I was at Uni, half the students never turned up for lectures anyway, morning ones were always the least well attended, too much hassle getting up.

[WhatP1antWhere]

So want happens in the next couple of years if you have loads who are applying with Alevels in the bag? Will they hoover up places and leave less for those taking Alevels? Will future years need to do the same to get places ie apply when they’ve got their Aleveis?

[SueEllenMishke]

It's so much easier for Cambridge to say this than other universities.


Mine and others that I know of are planning for a mixture of remote learning and some on campus delivery. Courses that need to be on campus will be prioritised.
We are planning on constantly reviewing the situation.
We want to get back to normal as soon as it's safe to do so.


In my faculty there is a lot of work going on to ensure that our remote delivery option is still excellent and high quality.

[Aragog]

It's worrying dd. She is due to start a teaching degree in September but doesn't really fancy a lengthy time of online learning and no proper university experience.

A lot of her friends feel the same and some are already looking at taking a year off in some way.

It's a rubbish time to start university and online teaching with a group you don't know and lecturers you don't know isn't going to be easy or particularly great.

[SueEllenMishke]

Out internal student survey actually reported our scores for teaching quality went up after we moved to remote learning ( it was high anyway) so not all students are having a poor experience.
And this was when we had a matter of days to prepare. What we will have available for September will be even better.

[AlltheLemurs]

We have had an increase in our graduating students applying to stay on for a masters. What else can they do? It’s a crap time to get a job you can’t go travelling.

Logistically it is going to be an absolute nightmare we are going to have to do way more teaching to have small enough groups. There is going to be huge pressure on rooms.

Our campus is totally locked down at the moment people who went home have still got all the stuff in halls of residence. No one knows how to return their library books. There is just a huge muddle to sort out.

We are planning extra support for students who have missed out on the last term of A levels working out how to teaching next year and doing it all without childcare.

[Zippy1510]

We are online delivery for all lectures and tutorials in semester one but labs will happening face to face with social distancing in place. We will be returning to normal teaching in semester two and three if the government reduces restrictions.

[OddBoots]

I'm not sure how the universities will look at applicants who decide to take a gap year/defer. I think those students would have to put a lot in their personal statements to show they were actually focused on the study and weren't mainly thinking about the social life, otherwise they risk looking like their priorities aren't what the university would be looking for.

[jasjas1973]

I wonder how shared accommodation or halls will work?
My DD has a room in a house, sharing with 6 others from all over the UK and beyond, its empty now but they are all returning in Sept.

Then there are placements, field trips, using public transport to get to the annex of a local hospital for lectures etc, for many, the classes are just a small part of it.

But i think the biggest issue for uni's is going to be funding, if they cannot offer the full experience of Uni life then they will lose the international students they have all come to rely on (CFE's too)
Perhaps forever, as other countries step in....

[SueEllenMishke]

You're right oddboots. Students will need to consider what that are going to do with a year off. The usual travelling, working etc are unlikely to be an option.

Applicants should wait to hear their chosen university's plans before making a decision.

[AlltheLemurs]

You may have a better chance of getting into your choice of university this year than next year as well. It is inevitable that there will be deferrals but they probably won’t be prioritised.

This year if you were hoping to improve on your target grade you will be given a chance. Next year you will be competing against this years year 12s who might have got better grades. If you have been sat at home for a year it isn’t going to look good.

[Aragog]

Hopefully the Oman's will be published before students receive their results mid August.

For dd it isn't the partying she is worried about missing out on, but it is the whole student experience.

An online experience is fine for those who choose distance learning and can be manageable shorter term for those who already know their tutor group and lecturers (same as for schools) but It's much harder for a group of strangers.

And for dd it's the course type too. A primary education degree is hands on. There aren't that many sit at desks listening lectures really. It's much more about being in the smaller groups 'doing' stuff, and that's before we even begin to consider the classroom Experience.

[Aragog]

Oman's??? Plans!

[Jacobieathan]

As a parent of a Year 12, whilst I feel terrible for those who are going to start uni without the proper Uni experience - living away from home, the social life as well as the academics (they will get it in the end though) I bloody hope students aren’t allowed to defer in their droves. How unfair to Year 12s now who are missing chunks of their education if they they can’t get into uni because places are going to current Yr 13s who didn’t want to miss freshers’ bloody week!

[Jacobieathan]

Aragog - I did a PGCE and it was masses of lectures and no hands on stuff unless you were out in schools. BEd might be different though.

[SueEllenMishke]

The OfS have says that universities must provide 'absolute clarity' on how courses will be delivered. We've been given until the end of June to plan our courses and feedback to our head of dept.

[AlltheLemurs]

@Aragog I do think that at most universities not only will small group teaching go ahead, there is likely to be more of it. So in that respect your daughter will be fine.

The main difficulty will be the school placement as we don’t know what they will be doing in September. The course may have to be modified to have a different mix of placements with more later on.

I do agree that the social side of university is important and it is important to get to know people on your course. I think this will still happen with small group teaching but it won’t be the same. It is definitely easier to teach students online who you already know. I imagine that the students feel the same

[iVampire]

DS hasn’t heard yet

He and a group of mates have signed up to share a house and he is quite keen to go back and have (all 7 of) then count as a household

He’s doing a subject that lends itself extremely well to online learning. Though arrangements to access computer labs would improve things considerably.

And living there would mean that if the fuller student experience - outdoors sports and al fresco drinking? - became available, he’s there ready

Hot sweaty night in the Union or clubs are probably out for a considerable time for everyone for a long time, student of not. They’ll have to devise other mating rituals!

[PicsInRed]

I would keep my place if I were a new uni student.

There simply won't be enough places in the next couple of years for social distancing, let alone all the deferred students and - just on the numbers - it seems likely that a lot of students will have offers withdrawn.