Universities during lockdown

[Rollintodarkness]

I'm a teacher and I completely get that young children are better off at school, but universities surely should all go online, get any students that can and want to go home to go home and do a proper lockdown for students post 18. Is this overly simplistic? AIBU?

How would that work with regards to all the money they’ve paid out for accommodation and tuition fees though?

Some are already fully online. My son’s is. Russell group north of England. Tier 3 area. He’s not had one face to face lecture or tutorial.

My ds is in 2nd year at uni and has been working 100% online, my friends teens are all the same.

Though it depends on what course you are doing, my niece who is in 2nd year is doing nursing and is on placement just now,

Interested too on your very definite cutoff. What about A level students? Which year group do you teach?

It’s very tough on first year students who are barely adults, are away from home and having to navigate fully online learning without much support.

The problem is that if universities go completely online (and I’ve been teaching Face To Face every week - it is happening), then students will presumably go home, seeding further infections all over the country.

my son is a 2nd year student. Living in his house share with 5 friends is much much better for his mental health than being stuck at home with his mum and dad.
they are hanging out together, have been going to the pub together, going running together etc

He's had a very small number of face to face seminars but is working online.
He's a 20 year old man-he doesn't want to be at home.

Yes, and before the lockdown that wouldn't have been good, but if everyone is at home, surely it will spread in their house but not further afield?

My daughter starts lab sessions this week. She desperately needs this
I am worried she is becoming agrophobic. She has lots of online work and feels she will be less motivated at home but is just working in her flat and is feeling uncomfortable about going out now. Her degree can't be completed without labs so I really hope they don't cancel. Labs always have been full PPE and spaced out anyway.

@Goingdooolally I'm talking specifically about post 18 courses

Do university students not have younger siblings at school? Or parents who can’t work from home?

And in any case, even spreading it within households is not a good idea right now

My dd is in 2nd year, shared house and all lectures online but last I heard some seminars still in person. After 6 months in the family home she was quite keen to go!
It would be an admin nightmare with regard to fees and loans if they all stayed at home, plus some cant stay or dont have the space to study. Plus unis heavily reliant on rental income from halls. If the unis go under then nobody wins.

@Fedup21 the course would be online so they would still be getting their course. Rent etc is a whole other thing and I really feel that students going off to uni would have been better not going at all this year (or until later in the year hopefully) and the government didn't discourage it because it brings in a lot of money.

@2pinkginsplease and those courses with placements or hands on elements very much still need to be happening.

[quote Rollintodarkness]@Goingdooolally I'm talking specifically about post 18 courses[/quote]
I know you were. My point is that you said you understood why younger children were in school so I asked you your views on A level students as there is an overlap in ages there. You just sounded unsympathetic to the plight of university students in your OP.

What age group do you teach?

Some need practical work to study their subject properly.

The problem is that many of the university cities have high numbers of cases, so you don’t want students return to (for example) Cornwall and spread it there where there are currently few cases. Of course, that is likely to happen when they all head home for Christmas anyway. If you could get the students to isolate properly and then go home, with only those who need to staying (eg lab based subjects, those without a parental home to go to) that would probably be better.

[quote Rollintodarkness]@Fedup21 the course would be online so they would still be getting their course. Rent etc is a whole other thing and I really feel that students going off to uni would have been better not going at all this year (or until later in the year hopefully) and the government didn't discourage it because it brings in a lot of money.[/quote]
I am well aware the courses are online-my DC is there, locked down in halls.

The government should have told them not to go, but didn’t.

As it is, they are all there, paying through the nose in tuition and accommodation fees (I am not blaming lecturers for this-they are still delivering the learning and still need to be paid) and students were warned if they deferred, they would have to reapply again with everyone else next year.

In 5 weeks time, they’ll all be heading home again-it’s going to be carnage.

We will still have to pay thousands in halls fees for the spring term if they go back or not, so you can hardly blame the teens for wanting to get their moneys worth and at least getting to live in the accommodation they’ve paid for.

[quote Rollintodarkness]@2pinkginsplease and those courses with placements or hands on elements very much still need to be happening.[/quote]
Loads of courses have clinical or lab work. So your original suggestion clearly wasn't very well thought through.

My 4th yr engineering student DC needs to be at uni, not home.

Most of my son’s flat mates are going home before Thursday. Tier 3 area. He’s staying put for now. But we will reassess. All of his lectures are online. They’ve just come out of 2 week self isolation as most had Covid . Pretty shit time although he’s sounding relatively upbeat.

In 5 weeks time, they’ll all be heading home again

I don't suppose all the students in private accommodation will particularly want to, and I hope halls remain open for students who shouldn't go back to families with vulnerable members.

@Goingdooolally I really didn't mean to be.
I am more concerned about some who have gone to uni and have been told they can't go home. If stay at home, save lives is the message right now, then leaving some barely 18 year olds in halls of residence (some not even allowed out of their rooms according to news reports) miles from home comforts if they do get ill, usnt very responsible.
Obviously there are courses that need to be in person, which would need to continue to go ahead, and some students may have no other living option or may want to be isolating in halls and that is fine too, but others might not, and by putting all courses that can be online, online, then that would then (if the government give these pupils the go ahead) enable them to go home ofnthat would be better for them. This is all said with complete sympathy to university pupils.
As for those who are studying at secondary school or college, it is far more of a grey area. I teach primary where the risk of transmission is lower, and the need for face to face is higher.

@ErrolTheDragon

In 5 weeks time, they’ll all be heading home again

I don't suppose all the students in private accommodation will particularly want to, and I hope halls remain open for students who shouldn't go back to families with vulnerable members.

The majority of them will want to go home for Christmas.

@fedup21 I am certainly not blaming students for this. Far from it, and I apologise if that is how it came across. Reading what you say, I thibk exactly the same. They should have been told all along not to go. I couldn't agree more

My daughter found out her course has gone completely online after she signed her rental agreement. So after wasting £6k, she decided she might as well live there. She gets on well with her housemates, so why would she come home?