Not allowed to go home at the weekend, not allowed to mix with students outside your bubble, not allowed to have parties, maybe not allowed for Xmas?

[chomalungma]

I really feel sorry for students at Uni in Scotland.

Those students who are feeling isolated. Those who just want some fun and to experience student life.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-54285720

And break these rules and you could lose your university place

Either the Unis go back as normal with precautions (masks, sanitising, etc.) or they don't. And if the schools can do it then so can higher educational establishments.

What you mean "if schools can do it"? My child is in a bubble of 250 people at school. They aren't wearing masks when together. Loads of "bubbles" being sent home from schools.

in many places academics are being forced to teach f2f by university administrators, SAGE reports said it was unwise, and many courses will be fine online. In fact we've actually put more effort into our teaching than ever before.Normally it's all about research. But uni senior administration encouraged it to get student money and the government (cummings) refused a bailout on political grounds

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/downing-street-students-return-christmas-a4558091.html%3famp

@Belladonna12 - its not about whether students deserve an education

they can have a perfectly good one using online teaching - realistically the amount of effort that i've put into my modules this year is 100times more than in a normal year.

They are not school kids but can follow the government mantra - work from home if you can. many degrees cant WFH and should be prioritized because their education can only be done F2F. Anything in arts and humanities, social science etc....should be online.

But the reason why they are having F2F teaching is economics not education. Am sorry but noone of my colleagues think that the fake one hour of face to face activities socially distanced at 2meters is education. Its a fob off for the british students to come on campus and Tier 4 students to get their visa

@Belladonna12 please read the SAGE report released in June/July -they modelled ways of making students going back on campus safe and not a public health issue. Their conclusion not possible they should study online if they can.

But many Corona decisions are being made for economic reasons. It is the same for most retail and restaurant/bar workers.

[quote zurich09]@Belladonna12 - its not about whether students deserve an education

they can have a perfectly good one using online teaching - realistically the amount of effort that i've put into my modules this year is 100times more than in a normal year.

They are not school kids but can follow the government mantra - work from home if you can. many degrees cant WFH and should be prioritized because their education can only be done F2F. Anything in arts and humanities, social science etc....should be online.

But the reason why they are having F2F teaching is economics not education. Am sorry but noone of my colleagues think that the fake one hour of face to face activities socially distanced at 2meters is education. Its a fob off for the british students to come on campus and Tier 4 students to get their visa[/quote]
I would disagree that their education will be just as good before online. It depends on the course but for some it wouldn't work at all if everything is online. Even if courses can be done online in theory, engagement tends to be poor and the reality is that it doesn't work so well. Regardless, most of the teaching in online at the moment and face-to-face will be pretty safe. The rise in cases is not due to face-to-face teaching.

[quote zurich09]@Belladonna12 please read the SAGE report released in June/July -they modelled ways of making students going back on campus safe and not a public health issue. Their conclusion not possible they should study online if they can.[/quote]
I think it's safer for students to be on campus than it is for school children to be at school. At least students aren't going home to families who may be at high risk. Most students living away from home tend to mix with other students.

Even if courses are online student living in private accommodation (which is the majority) will go back anyway. They will have signed contracts long ago and will have to pay anyway.

but students were never going to have a normal year l.my uni was always going to pretend there was face to face but give students an hour per week....blended always meant online but with enough face to face to get students to pay their money.

also students are not school kids....its much more like employees - if you can do it from home, do it from home.

inis couldn't care less whether learning is better or worse for students....the financial.model doesnt allow for that.they care they pay whether they learn is bot important.hnis are now like pretty...or doesnt care whether you enjoy your coffee but whether you keep buying

like Pret

In no way are students like employees. They pay £9000. They are more like customers than employees, and customers definitely haven’t been told to do it from home. Customers have been encouraged our by the government.

@zurich09

but students were never going to have a normal year l.my uni was always going to pretend there was face to face but give students an hour per week....blended always meant online but with enough face to face to get students to pay their money.

also students are not school kids....its much more like employees - if you can do it from home, do it from home.

Just because your uni was planning to only give an hour a week it doesn't mean they all were. We were hoping to provide a lot more,if not this term then next. The course I teach on can't all be done online.

Students are not like employees. They have paid a lot of money for their courses and online indefinitely will not be as good as face-to-face.

also students are not school kids....its much more like employees - if you can do it from home, do it from home.

Nonsense!

These are young adults, some only just 18, in new cities and living with strangers. Many are far away from family and friends for the first time and are being expected to isolate from one another.

Dd is a first year and due to the governments mess up lost her first choice university and accommodation - so she is in a shared private flat with strangers. She moved in yesterday. Two post grad students live there / neither have left their room yet so Dd hasn't seen them. She met one once when we took some stuff over a fortnight ago. She's never met the other. The second year student hasn't yet arrived.

She's met three people from a different flat in the block but they're in local lockdown so not supposed to visit other flats. She did go for drinks with them yesterday evening after we left though.

She's been for a f2f induction today in a group of 16. Every desk is spaced out and they can't leave their seats. Some students are in the same flat so know one another a day, rest don't. There's no real chance to get to know one another and just chat. The tutor today also didn't encourage them to do so. So Dd has to sit alone not knowing anyone and no chance to sit in a shared table chatting as of normal.

She's just walked home to a quiet flat to eat her tea alone whisky watching a film. One of the post grad students is in but still in her room, Dd thinks she's on FaceTime.

Dd is an only child so used to time on her own but she's also naturally sociable and loves company. I really hope something improves because it's making me feel dreadful knowing she's over there in her own, at a time when she should be out and having fun meeting new friends.

Hopefully as it's only day 1 then it's the Normal awkwardness of the start of the course and not how things will remain..:

@Aragog that’s awful. Totally unacceptable. Can you say which Uni? Is there any way of getting her into halls? Or private halls?

She's in private halls. But they aren't supposed to go into one another's flats - but her two post grad flatmates are yet to leave their rooms. She knows they are there but their doors are closed. They haven't even come out for a drink whilst she's been there. We do they are both older as both are post grads. It'll be better hopefully if the second year comes next weekend. This week is induction so she may come next weekend but was waiting to see how many hours f2f she had.

She was offered halls after signing this contract - but we left it as at the time we just knew she was with 3 other girls in a full flat and a full block. It was before local lockdown and before we realised f2f was going to be so restricted - they've changed their proposed timetables last week. The halls offered were also shared bathrooms and catered, so not great in comparison to the other halls on campus or the private halls she is now in. But we are now wondering if they'd have been better than this.

We might see about a halls waiting list if things don't improve once term starts next week - though trying to get out of the private contact might not even be possible anyway.

She seemed happy when I spoke to her, but I feel dreadful thinking that his really wasn't what we expected university to be like.

It was lovely to see an interview on the news today with a lovely young man who said it's only 14 days, they have food, housing and online tutorials..... Great perspective and positive and appropriate.
Get so fed up with the whining 🙄 mental health...woe is us, 14 days isolated crap about freedom, sueing, civil liberty site...grow the fuck up

another issues which often gets forgotten is that the conversation about face to face teaching is not really about UK students. but international students. the Britidh government insisted that international Tier 4 students were required to have face to face teaching to get their visa.many russell group unis waited till that regulation was upheld to sort out f2f teaching. so much of this conversation is about university funding and not pedagogy or the students

grow the fuck up

Both myself and my daughter are 'grown up' thanks.
But I can still be concerned about my DD being isolated and lonely in a strange city in a flat where there is no interaction. It would be even worse if she was locked in like in MMU,

But hey - what does it matter if a few 18y are left on their own for a fortnight???

I have sympathy for students. I had sympathy for those, like myself, who live alone during full lockdown for longer than 14 days and found it incredibly lonely.

I have more sympathy for the elderly in care homes, many who have seen none of their families for six months except occasionally waving thru a window. And who may not see their loved ones ever again.

I hear lots about students, I hear very little about the elderly imprisoned dying without seeing a loved one. And with respect, the students hopefully have many decades of good life ahead of them.

@Browneyesbigbum

It was lovely to see an interview on the news today with a lovely young man who said it's only 14 days, they have food, housing and online tutorials..... Great perspective and positive and appropriate. Get so fed up with the whining 🙄 mental health...woe is us, 14 days isolated crap about freedom, sueing, civil liberty site...grow the fuck up

I think there has always been kids who found the first term easy and kids who found it really hard - your attitude is really quite shit - fed up with the whining? Poor you, it must be really awful for you to listen to it - how do you cope - don't bloody read it - your problem is easily solved! It is possible to have sympathy for more than one group at a time or have this shit of a government managed to turn us all against each other in an attempt to deflect against their own incompetence?

@Browneyesbigbum

It was lovely to see an interview on the news today with a lovely young man who said it's only 14 days, they have food, housing and online tutorials..... Great perspective and positive and appropriate. Get so fed up with the whining 🙄 mental health...woe is us, 14 days isolated crap about freedom, sueing, civil liberty site...grow the fuck up

So rude.

I think it's much more important that students are being given second rate tuition, and universities are just getting away with it.