University students possibly told to stay at uni over Christmas

[WearyandBleary]

This has just been leaked and Matt Hancock has done a non-denial.

This has shocked me. Why not tell old people to stay at home over Christmas instead? The mental health of our students is going to be horrific.

The day those measures were announced it had a detrimental effect on a lot of peoples MH. The government ignored these warnings throughout and went ahead, which saw an increase demand for mh services. Shielders were given originally 12 weeks isolation for their benefit (still waiting for this benefit lol)

I understand that stress they are going through, everyone in education has been royally fucked over.

He can contact his Uni for Mh support, they have got extra funding for this. It's all in the HE guidelines.

Won't students from last year be refunded in some way?
If it was one of mine I'd be suggesting they contact student finance directly or at the Uni to find out about this.
When I've had to leave a course early, that was it, no other money was charged and the loan adjusted.

The fee situation was one of the reasons why private schools continued to do remote learning as they realistically couldn't afford to refund parents.

@HeresMe

And if you don't think the government will lock students down over Christmas look at Manchester University now.

Locking 1800 students down, it's scary how it's allowed.

Is this not holding people against their will or something ? I feel a mother’s uprising at Xmas, to rescue their children from Uni’s. I’m up for it 😉

None of it can be enforced.

Personally, I'd be far happier for my student children to be locked down - if they went along with being locked down at all - at university than at home. They're far better being with other students.

I have one who has just started, and had already said that she should go regardless of contact hours, online teaching etc, just to get away from home. I had agreed with some other parents whose DC are going to the same university that, even if everything was online, we would jointly rent a house for them all, just so they have at least some independence.

Student aged offspring need to be away from their parents. Mine were actually perfectly ok company during lockdown, but they were desperate to be independent (again, in the case of one). Rightly so. I will do everything in my power to facilitate this (obviously, if they were very unhappy away from home, that might be different ).

And isn't this the point of the track and trace app?
It monitors you're movements and connects to other phones to always know your location unless you've switched off bluetooth.

At the moment it is supposed to be anonymous but ask yourself if this will still be the case in a few months time under the guise of issuing fines to try and get it all under control.

If the law of not mixing household at all is brought it will likely not be enforceable. However when cases and possibly deaths go up in January 2021 due to households mixing the government can lay the blame on the public. For the most part I have no sympathy for the government - a competent tracing system should have been in place months ago /earlier initial lockdown.

However if cases are rising in a particular university and students have the option to stay or return to family in a lower risk areas then we (student, family and wider community) cannot be surprised if cases go up in low risk areas. That may be a risk that the student and family and at least some in community are prepared to take for MH or other reasons. I wouldn’t blame anyone for doing it but we can’t pretend that there is no choice.

Think how bad things would be if it was December now and all those students in Manchester had all gone home for Christmas. They'd be at home now with you isolated in their rooms along with anyone else they passed it onto in their own family. Never mind the poor sods stuck on coaches/planes/trains.

It's all that travelling what we need to clamp down on. To only use public transport when essential and you cannot get to work another way?

If clampdowns are in place and people still flout them, how can anyone other than those people be blamed for any spikes?

Last month those going on holiday were blamed when figures went up a bit.
Restrictions got lifted and numbers increased. Now it's the eat out thing that's being blamed.
Nope people made choices based on what was in place to help reduce the spread.

Just like schools, Uni's are not Covid secure. This is where the government is to blame.

What arrangements were made for the isolation of international students? I'm quite surprised at the number who have returned to the uni in my local town. My dh is Egyptian and I was surprised to learn that many of his friends have sent their dcs to uni in the UK this year and dismayed when he said none had any plans to quarantine .

Is this not holding people against their will or something ?

It is and that's what's so scary how people are willing to accept it.

I feel so sorry for all these students but especially the newbies. My ds is hoping to go to uni next year and I’m so glad it isn’t this year as he wouldn’t have coped and I don’t think my nerves would’ve either.

Won't students from last year be refunded in some way?
If it was one of mine I'd be suggesting they contact student finance directly or at the Uni to find out about this.
When I've had to leave a course early, that was it, no other money was charged and the loan adjusted.

They are not eligible for refund if they finished their course or year. The case of most unis was that they "adjusted" the courses so that they could complete either their course of study or the year online. Obviously with varying degrees of success. But the line taken by most unis is that they made "immense efforts" to move everything online and therefore there is no justification for a refund. They've obviously taken advice and this line is being stuck to pretty uniformly.

The only scenario in which a student would be eligible to appeal for a refund would be if they could prove that they had been penalised or had missed out more than others due to a specific supervisor not being available, lack of provision on a particular module... etc. They would need to have good evidence that this was the case and that the provision they received was not in line with that of their peers.

Most SUs have appealed about this situation vigorously on behalf of their student cohorts, but I haven't heard of any case where that's been successful; i.e. refunds for all students on a course.

None of it can be enforced.

I wouldn't be so sure. Security staff at MMU are stopping students leave their accommodation. They don't need the police - www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54308329

Those security staff don't have any legal right to prevent people leaving. They're not the police. If those a student left anyway, there might very well be sanctions from the university, but it will be up to them if they want to choose that over staying.

Manchester is in local lockdown and it’s public health England who have put the halls into isolation due to cases inside the halls. If anyone leaves they could be heavily fined.

Oh, I hadn't heard about the halls. I am in GM too. This is a different situation to students in the majority of the country, then.

Fwiw my ds, who finished this summer, was told he and the rest of his cohort would be getting compensation for disruption caused by strikes and Covid. He got given £50. I expect he'll be buying a Porsche or putting a deposit on a house with that.

I feel a mother’s uprising at Xmas, to rescue their children from Uni’s.
I’m up for it 😉

I’m feeling that too and am well up for the mission!

@canigooutyet

The difference with this and shielding was that shielding was guidance, people were free to follow that guidance or ignore it and carry on with the same restrictions the rest of us were on, and some did just that without consequence.

People were advised to shield to protect themselves because they are at greater risk of complications from the virus. And they were asked to stay in their homes with the people they usually live with. The same cannot be said of forcing students to stay in their (often shitty) student accommodation, away from their home, away from their families, and for the sake of other people.

Shielders gained protection from shielding, students have nothing to gain, they can only lose if this is enforced, and they have already lost enough for the sake of other people.

@NailsNeedDoing

*I feel a mother’s uprising at Xmas, to rescue their children from Uni’s. I’m up for it* 😉

I’m feeling that too and am well up for the mission!

I think that possibly Boris is not aware of the potential wrath he may unleash from mothers when their young are threatened!! I am a law abiding citizen. never broken a law, ever. Followed every last ridiculaous covid rule to the last degree. But if he tries to bring this rule in I will be absolutely breaking the law and will pay any fines accrued!

Same. Totally law abiding, followed every rule. But not this one if it's brought in.

Discussed this with elderly relatives today and they were horrified that university students / grandchildren might not be able to come home for Christmas. And they usually think Johnson is wonderful.

It's a very different scenario to people shielding at home, which of course is hard, and I have friends and family who have been doing this. But, particularly for 1st year students, they are not at home, they are in small rooms, unable to go out, knowing nobody, and little or no way to meet anybody. Everything is online, and this is simply cruel and unfair to their mental health.

I think they should have kept 1st years at home, and allowed 2nd/3rd years to choose really, and then re-assess in January.

@NailsNeedDoing

*I feel a mother’s uprising at Xmas, to rescue their children from Uni’s. I’m up for it* 😉

I’m feeling that too and am well up for the mission!

I’ll be revolting if DS is locked into halls with no exercise and no way of getting food!

Me to @mosscarpet

It’s another shitshow from this government, they have had from March an opportunity to get testing up and running at every university!

.. it feels like it’s take the fees and screw them!

If they stop uni students returning home I hope they also stop people going on holiday! Ridiculous the amount of people that still think a jolly is necessary at this time!

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/hmp-mmu-students-claim-were-19003637

HMP MMU' - Students claim they were met by 'security' and 'police' as they tried to leave Coronavirus crisis halls
Student halls at Birley Campus and Cambridge Hall have been locked down for a fortnight due to a surge in Covid-19 cases

Students at Manchester Metropolitan University have told of the moment they were met by security and police as they tried to leave their halls of residence.

Accommodation blocks at the Birley Campus, as well as Cambridge Hall have been locked down for a fortnight due to a cluster of Covid-19 cases.

Case numbers have soared to 127 across both sites, leading the council, university and Public Health England to take the drastic decision.

The handling of the situation has been heavily criticised by students, who claim they received no warning of the stringent measures.
Some have hit back at the decision by sticking posters to their windows, which they have reportedly been told to remove by the university.

One sign dubbed the halls as "HMP MMU" - referring to Her Majesty's Prison Service, whilst others read "f* Boris" and "Tories out."

Many students say they have not had an opportunity to buy food shopping, and have been left with little or no support from the university.

Megan Tingey, 19, is a fresher at the Birley Naylor halls of residence, and already tested positive for coronavirus around three weeks ago.

She had been getting ready for a night at the pub with her flat mates to celebrate the end of their isolation period, when she says they were met by security on the front gates.

"We saw there was security on the gates telling people they couldn't go in or out," Megan told the PA news agency.

"We spoke to them and they said the email letting us know had been delayed.

"I still haven't received an email saying anything about being locked in. I think most of my flat mates have received an email but it didn't come before so we could prepare."

Megan said she and most of her flat had tested positive for Covid-19 three weeks ago, and had self-isolated for the 10 days from the start of their symptoms.

She criticised the timing of the lockdown, and claimed many people in her block had already had the virus.

"We haven't really received any advice about how to get food in, obviously we hadn't done a food shop," Megan said.

"I presume we can order stuff to the gate and they can leave it there but I'm not sure. They gave us no time to prepare, if they had given us a day we could have gone out and stocked up.

"This definitely could have been handled better by the university. Walking out of the flat and seeing security is quite a stressful situation.

"There were police outside the gate looking at everyone. None of them came in to say anything."

Megan said she and her flat mates are in 'high spirits' but feared the impact of the new measures had not hit home yet

We have a big group chat on Facebook and I know a lot of people are struggling at the moment," she added.

The latest measures come as Manchester recorded the highest number of new infections in a single day - likely to be linked to the outbreak at MMU.

The city area had 176 new infections confirmed on Wednesday, September 23 - the highest since the start of the pandemic.

In the last seven days, the borough has recorded 1,051 new cases of coronavirus, an increase of 440 week-on-week

Local residents were sent a letter by Manchester City Council, informing them of the decision to lockdown the nearby university accomodation.

First-year student, Dominic Waddell, said there had been a 'big freak out' among students when met by security guards at the gated entrance at Birley Halls.

"A few people got an email to announce they were locking down my accommodation but not everyone got that," he told PA.

"There was a big freak out with everyone and there was a secruity guard that arrived at the gate and wouldn't let anyone leave.

Lots of people were getting mixed messages. Some people had been told if they tried to leave they would be kicked off their course and lose their accomodation.

"Other people were saying that it was going to be a permanent lockdown - we didn't get anything from the university."

Dominic said he and his fellow students are feeling angry, confused, frustrated and worried about how they are going to source food.

"There are nearly 2,000 students in this lockdown and if everyone is trying to get a delivery slot I don't know how that is going to happen," he said

I think it has been pretty poorly handled. They are saying our safety and well-being is their top priority but it doesn't really seem like that if they haven't allowed us to prepare for this."

The University and College Union has described the incident as "the latest catastrophe in a week where wholly predictable – and predicted – Covid outbreaks have caused havoc on campuses across the UK."

General secretary Jo Grady said: "We warned last month of the problems with moving thousands of students across the country and the time has come for urgent action from ministers and universities to protect staff and students

Manchester Metropolitan University shifting teaching online only for foundation and first year students exposes the total absurdity of the current position of trying to continue with blended learning.”

On Friday David Regan, Public Health Director for Manchester, said: "An important part of Manchester’s local response and prevention plan for coronavirus is to keep a close eye on the data and act swiftly and decisively where an outbreak is identified in order to contain the virus. That’s what we’ve done here."

Manchester Council said a 'range of support measures' had been put in place for the students in question.

A spokesperson for MMU told the BBC: "We are fully supportive of the [lockdown] decision.

Services such as wellbeing support and the library will remain available to our students online.

"Our security teams will increase patrols to support the lockdown and we will take disciplinary action against any students found to have breached requirements."

The M.E.N have contacted Manchester Metropolitan University for comment.