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Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Covid

What will happen to university students in this lockdown?

62 replies

notevenat20 · 31/10/2020 07:57

If we have a lockdown next week, what is going to happen to university students? They can’t send them home as that would infect parents and grandparents. Surely the universities won’t carry on teaching face to face. Will they just leave them restricted to their student halls?

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Believehope · 31/10/2020 07:59

I think that schools and universities will be staying open.

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cologne4711 · 31/10/2020 08:00

Most of them could come home. I doubt that many students live with grandparents. If they do, they'll have to take a view. Same if parents (or siblings) are vulnerable. But for the majority it will be fine. Many will have younger siblings at schools anyway, so it's not like most parents are locked away in a bubble even if wfh, they could give it to their student!

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cologne4711 · 31/10/2020 08:01

It's true that universities are meant to be staying open but will they treat one room as a household as opposed to eg a corridor? Students may decide they'd rather be at home with some company than stuck in one room for weeks especially if they've already been through self-isolation.

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Ijustcantcope · 31/10/2020 08:03

I wish they’d bloody shut them as staff are still being forced to do face to face teaching. My vulnerable DH has to teach them every week. I’m betting not many people would like to be in a room of university students right now.

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Believehope · 31/10/2020 08:07

Generally only first years are in halls, while the others are in rented houses and flats with their friends. So no reason to come home until the end of term, other than for visits. And hardly a hot-bed of germs, unlike halls.

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Chocolatecake12 · 31/10/2020 08:09

My ds has just come out of a 2 week isolation period. His fiat mate tested positive, they continued to share a kitchen as there really was no other option, none of the other flat mates caught Covid. (Or they were all asymptotic)
He has two days of online lectures and 1.5 days of f2f - where they wear masks and are socially distanced.
I really hope universities will carry on, same as schools. Our children’s education has suffered so much.

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RishiMcRichface · 31/10/2020 08:11

News reports are saying unis are staying open.

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Believehope · 31/10/2020 08:13

My DS is in his final year, and has no face-to-face at all, even though it is supposed to be a practical course. So he spends all day every day in his flat. There is no risk in him coming home at all.

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Ginfordinner · 31/10/2020 08:14

There is no face to face teaching at many universities anyway. DD is in a house share with 7 friends and would be happier there than coming home. She would be bored to tears with only us for company.

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mumsneedwine · 31/10/2020 08:18

@Ijustcantcope I feel your pain. However a secondary school teacher I am f2f with 150+ students every day, in small unventilated rooms with no mask. I'd happily have a small group of mask wearing adults !
My DD is yet to step foot on campus. £17,500 to sit in a room. Not on. Either send them home and don't charge them stupid rent or provide some provision that is not on a screen. She has headaches as on it for so long every day.

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Oct18mummy · 31/10/2020 08:19

They will stay open. Most of the teaching since September has been online anyway!

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notevenat20 · 31/10/2020 08:19

There is no face to face teaching at many universities anyway.

Is that really true in tier 1? Oxford and Cambridge have some face to face teaching. Bristol uni does. Do the others not?

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ItsReallyOnlyMe · 31/10/2020 08:20

I agree with @ginfordinner. My DS is the same - universities have been successful at online teaching since April (based on my DD's and DS's experience). They both did a full set of exams online in May.

My DS will remain in his house share where he is very happy.

However I worry for the students who have only just started and are still finding their feet and friends in hall. I suspect the dropout rates for those individuals will be higher than normal and they will go home.

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Dotinthecity · 31/10/2020 08:20

Well, they’d only be infecting their families and Grandparents if they were all Covid-ridden themselves. Where has this assumption come from that every student and school child is infected and ready to spread Covid on every surface they touch? The government merrily encouraged the students to go back, so that Universities wouldn’t be calling out for financial help to pay for their rental properties, etc but are now sitting back and allowing students to take the blame for the rise in infections. When is this hysteria going to end. Please get a grip!

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notevenat20 · 31/10/2020 08:21

I really hope universities will carry on, same as schools. Our children’s education has suffered so much.

One difference may be the age of university academics. We really don’t want to kill the country’s Nobel prize winners!

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user1497207191 · 31/10/2020 08:21

@notevenat20

Many unis aren't teaching face to face anyway. They promised it but aren't delivering. Many students are already restricted to their halls/flats and have been since the day they arrived. Absolutely stupid for unis to coerce them to going when nearly everything is online.

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user1497207191 · 31/10/2020 08:22

@cologne4711

Exactly.

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lovelemoncurd · 31/10/2020 08:23

Universities have tiers too. The tier will escalate to online learning. I couldn't comment about how unis will manage halls but I will know more when the country knows more.

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Mamia15 · 31/10/2020 08:23

My DC and friends' DC are all being taught online at their Unis - no f2f teaching at all despite promises that they would do a mixed approach of online and f2f.

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notevenat20 · 31/10/2020 08:24

Where has this assumption come from that every student and school child is infected and ready to spread Covid on every surface they touch?

So far in the uni I know, around 10% of undergraduates have tested positive. Given that they are then locked in with their flat mates combined with the percent who won’t get a test because their symptoms are so mild, it’s a fair guess that most of the 1st year students at least have covid.

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movingonup20 · 31/10/2020 08:24

One of my DD's is going home for a week (already planned) the other is staying out at the moment, I've left a message to ask if she wants picking up though

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movingonup20 · 31/10/2020 08:25

Dd hasn't had any face to face teaching btw

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lovelemoncurd · 31/10/2020 08:26

Unis will stay open. I run a nursing programme so I'm not about to stop that! I run theory on line but the students are obviously still learning in practice. However as you can imagine that has its difficulties currently!

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movingonup20 · 31/10/2020 08:28

@notevenat20

At least one university is testing every 2 weeks (voluntary) as part of a study, dd hasn't had covid since September! (She may have had it in March when I had it and not had symptoms though)

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Believehope · 31/10/2020 08:28

The ones in private housing will have to pay whether they are there or not, and students are signing up to houses for September next year already. They are getting a dreadful deal at university this year on courses which were designed to be taught in person, with group work and interaction with others.
If my children were first years, I would have encourage them to postpone until this is all over. For those in second and third years, they are stuck with a poor experience at a very high cost.