Universities

[Jourdain11]

Pure curiosity; I'm wondering what people suspect will be the situation with universities in January?

Assuming that there isn't another lockdown, I think a return to mainly online would be very hard for unis to justify.

However, we have a super Covid-cautious HoD. Yesterday they were saying, "and we have x many students with Covid in the department yesterday!" in such morbid tones that you'd have thought she was saying that they all had hours to live. Most of them have reported mild/no symptoms.

Of course, as with the general population, there are varying attitudes among students. Some have been very cautious, wanted to study entirely online, anxious because mask-wearing wasn't adhered to (although the uni could only "advise" it at that point anyway), whereas others were very keen to crack on and upset that there couldn't be more events and fewer mitigations. The majority seemed to be pretty chilled and of the, "This is better than it could have been" attitude.

My DS is at university in Wales and was told to be prepared to study remotely in January, yesterday

It's all our staff that have come down with it on the course - the disease vector was a staff member who sits beside the office kettle and teabag supply who seems to have infected most of the staff!

I work for a university and assume our lecturers will teach in person if the government allow. We took an overly cautious approach in 2020 and early 2021 and it really wasnt popular with students. We went to get DS from his halls rather than him hop on a train so we could bring back most of his stuff just in case. But I assume even if lectures are online he will go back, halls are more fun than home!

Has anyone had any clarification yet on whether students are expected back in person? Surely that would cause a huge spike in numbers?

Not heard anything yet. I am a student. I am expecting to hear something over the next couple of weeks.

I work at a uni and there’s no decision yet. I think senior management expected that there would be a government announcement by now and that unis would follow that. As a result everyone is just waiting.

It's tough for students waiting to hear if they will go back in the next week or not.

Mine are back in their student accommodation ,thank goodness
Both really enjoyed first term and 🤞2nd term will be good too
No doubt there will be lots of cases but that shouldn't be the whole story

@neveroutofthekitchen

No point in having lectures online if the pubs are still open.

This.

Dd is at Nottingham and some of her things are online but she does have seminars in person. However, it’s all so pointless as they all go out clubbing 3/4 times a week in the city centre in huge clubs where 2000+ of them are all mixing together.

My dd has one in person session every 3 weeks (3rd yr of a 4yr degree). At least her flat is warmer & cheaper than the one she had last year.

In my masters course, first 2 weeks online and then you can choose in person or online tutorials for rest of semester.

I am only choosing in person ones where I have to due to timetable clashes. With all lectures online, it's just not very practical to attend in person things (with 1hr ie travel window either side). If you lived next to the university that wouldn't be a problem but this is in centre of London so need to take travel into account.

Dd is back from the 10th - second year. No changes to timetable so,far, so hopefully she will be back as normal, with in person sessions as before. She also has some placements a couple of days in January, in schools, so hopefully they can go ahead - it will be her first chance to be in schools since she started and so important for her course.

I'm a mature student and really don't want to go back this semester. I think we should be given a choice again, particularly those of us that are disabled/have health conditions. Instead my uni have introduced an 80% attendance policy .

Our 3 are due back next week, 2 are threatening to stay here if it's online lectures so I can "help" them not sure if they are wanting the full homeschool experience, starting pe with joe . (Seems to be that they think I will encourage them to keep a good routine with appropriate amounts of nagging as required and provide full board of course!) please take them back university!

As long as my ds can go back and enjoy his social life as a student, I’m not sure he’s bothered whether they are online or not.

I think nightclubs will close though. He would be gutted.

I'm still preparing for both in person and online classes. I don't think we'll have any guidance until later this week.

A choice of options sounds great. I wish the universities/govt would make decisions either way though. Best friends' DD is wondering if she needs to book her train tickets to go back next weekend or not.

DD has to wear masks in lecture halls anyway at Durham.

They’re all triple jabbed anyway by now and most have also had Covid. If schools are back, uni should be no different.

There’s ni way she’d stay here anyway as she has a house that’s rented up there and that won’t be negotiable plus all her friends are there.

My DD is a 3rd year biomedical engineering student. She hasn't had an in person class or an actual lab since Feb 2020 and will still be online when she goes back after the holidays. For a huge chunk of the time, she wasn't allowed into her uni flat either, despite paying for it.
My ds4's girlfriend is a 3rd year Childhood Practice student and hasn't seen the inside of a classroom since Feb 2020 either, with no plans for f2f this academic year at all.
Ds1's wife is a student nurse. Placements in person, obviously, but no in person classes at all.

Shocked some unis are still online. Durham has been f2f since September.

We are in Scotland so perhaps our unis are more cautious than in England?

I am really really hoping they can all go back, even if large group in person teaching isn't allowed.