When do you think universities will open?

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I would think they would be definitely be working to a September deadlines for the new academic year.
But do we think any sooner? I am professional services staff and currently working from home.

We couldn’t cope with en masse deferrals. That would put great strain upon staff the following year if we were trying to teach a significantly bigger year group. And that would obviously continue as they progressed through their degree. I’m in Scotland so the situation is a bit different. We still have a cap on our numbers of Scottish students. We already have 10 applicants for every place. We get relatively few RUK students coming to us.

@Theukisgreatt well it's not absolutely obvious because some programmes are suspended ( for example my programme) some are not. Some parts of the uni campus are open, some are not! So I was just wanting some clarity as to what 'shut' actually means.

Our campus is completely shut (apart from very small numbers in student accommodation). I thought all were to be honest. That's interesting .. so which parts of campus are open with you? (It's mostly to save £££ I think, may as well close it all)

Our campus is totally shut, except for labs involved in COVID 19 research. All our key cards are deactivated and we have been explicitly told to stay away. There are still some, mostly international students in halls. I’m interested to hear that other universities haven’t shut their campuses, I can’t see how that would work. On the other hand I probably see more of my colleagues than usual, virtually.

Universities can decline a referral request and may well choose to not allow any requests to put students off deferring.

From talking to friends with year 13 kids some of them are planning to repeat year 13 if they don’t get the grades they want/need so there may be quite a drop in new uni students from that.

On the course I teach we’ve had some first years take a temp withdrawal due to the current situation. This will Impact on offers for sept 2020. We have 5x withdrawals so can only take 75 rather than 80 students now.

I work for a uni in the English language teaching centre. We deal with exclusively international students and expect 2000 to study online in the summer with a view to starting September 2020. However there is no guarantee f2f teaching will start then. We need to retain international student numbers not only for our department but also because the rest of the uni is reliant on the income. Apparently the number of applications is as high as ever but this may change of course.

Lots of questions and no answers yet. I've been teaching my international students online since the uni closed. We had 3 days to receive training and plan, then teaching began. It will start again on 27 April.

@Xmasbaby11 that’s really good news about international students. I assumed there would be a big drop.

I don’t think competitive universities like Oxford and Cambridge will allow deferrals and then there’s no guarantee of getting in the next time around.

I think we're going to have to try and be open in September. Nothing else is feasible. Professional courses (particularly health) still need to producing graduates and other courses need to keep going or universities will go bust.

I imagine as much as possible will be online, which may have many silver linings with regards to costs and timetabling.

Very interested in this - my dd has place at Scottish uni and has said she won’t go if it’s online - she will defer. I have pointed out all the reasons not to but ultimately will be up to her. She will be paying for it. One issue is that open uni is cheaper so shes worried about debt etc too - this doesn’t help.

A large number of universities are fighting for survival at the moment.

My daughters year group are due to be on internships so not on site anyway. They have had a less than great experience already due to weeks of strike action taken by staff. I will totally not be financially supporting anything but a normal uni experience for her final year. I do not believe she has had value for money this year and yes this is a very highly ranked university.

It's just too expensive. DD lost chunks of term to the strike this year and last, then Corona. Uni's just not such an attractive option any more. Or a viable one.

Have her uni said she can defer, newgirls? or will she withdraw and reapply?

She will see what her grades are then ring around her 5 offers. Then check clearing. Then make a decision. She is also looking at German unis who I imagine can teach online as well for cheaper. She has time on her hands so is thinking about all angles!

This is it puptent - with strikes and now this the online sites are full of annoyed students

I do feel very sorry for the unis but also for my dd who is looking at 30k plus debt - I hope it all returns to normal

Universities are unlikely to accept mass deferrals - there are too many knock on effects

What are all these deferred students planning on doing for a year with no employment prospects and looming recession? You'd think online study might be a welcome distraction.

Online study is certainly as rigorous as face-to face, we do a lot of PG online teaching and are preparing for UG delivery online at least until Xmas. There's also a definite feeling of community. Of course it isn't the same as f2f but you only have to look at the popularity of some groups on MN to see that it's possible to build a tangible community online.

I think COVID 19 is going to create some long term lifestyle changes, so we all need to be open to the possibility of change in the long term

I think fee cuts will need to be rolled out in that case - like private schools. Open uni is 19k for a degree - far less than campus based. Unis can’t expect 18-21 year olds to pay going rate when they don’t have jobs and parents salaries have been hit

How are the universities supposed to pay staff if fees are cut?
You do know parents don't pay fees? Students pay them when they graduate. If they don't earn much due to recession they don't pay them back.

The strikes that have disrupted this year have had an impact. Students need to consider other options consider career prospects and what value for money they are actually getting. Some universitys may not survive this

Worst - many of us will be facing pay cuts, job losses etc so surely unis don’t think they will be immune? That’s not logical.

I’m just relaying what teens are thinking and I am sure unis are well aware of this anyway and are talking about all angles

I think unis are in their own little bubble. I could understand working to rule etc but not the total disruption to degree level education this year, just appalling

Yes looks like the strikes came at a very bad time in hindsight

You do actually need lecturers though, no lectures without them!
We have had a freeze on hiring but this leaves us at bare bones.
Lecturers can be made redundant but it's rarely worth the Uni's while unless they are closing a whole department. My own dept has 150-odd students per year so isn't closing any time soon.