University life for 'freshers' (2019/20) - first year campus life suspended, sitting out/surviving the pandemic and staying on top of studying [Edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

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I dont think the cambridge plan is for the whole of the courses to be online though - just the lectures. So tutorials and small seminar groups still expected to run in person (though socially distanced)? That is aiui, though could be wrong!

Well with overseas students deferring if all uni's go down this path and uk students defer some uni's who are financially wobbly will be in dire straits

@Benjispruce, sorry to hear your DD is thinking about being released if all goes online. DC are hoping that unis are considering worst case scenario, but may move back towards normality if it goes OK. Also they both are tied into private rentals....

@Cantgowrongwithstripedcurtains I don’t mind saying he’s at Bournemouth Arts, he got the email yesterday.
I think most of the students do end up living with students from the university although sometimes mixed courses, he’s moving into a house with coursemates and next door are also on his course, so 8 of them altogether, seeing as there is max 30 per year it would be a good solution to get his group in all together at one time.
A friend who is a technician at a London Arts uni says they are planning to run the studios 7 days a week to stagger students.
It’s hard for these type of courses, my DS is doing model making and really needs to be able to use the machinery to do anything. He’s done a project here at home but it’s impossible to get a good quality finish without the tools and lots of the materials they use need special conditions/ PPE to do safely.

Thanks it's cold, that's interesting that so many coursemates are also housemates. I think maybe if the students do the foundation year there and then go on to a degree they might be more likely to be 'mixed' groups, as they are mixing with everyone at first! Yes, 7 day studio availability, and maybe evenings as well, could be one approach.

On the question of being 'released', is that necessary if a student decides to drop out - or is that required where the student wants to transfer to a different university (maybe a home one)?

Is there a communications issue to some extent - online lectures doesn't necessarily mean 'online university', in that some univs may be aiming to have the students physically there, and do seminars etc person to person (though no guarantees, i suppose is one problem)?

This is the issue, headlines will always be headlines but I wish there’d be more emphasis on those plans being flexible rather than ‘the whole of 20/21! We are also tied into a rental so that would need to be resolved. I really hope that there is enough face to face teaching to make living 4 hrs away for £500+pm rent worth it!

Benjispruce similar conversations going on in our household.

Listening to the Welsh Education Secretary as I type, she has stated categorically that she has not heard from them that there are financial worries going forward. Yeah right.

universities in Wales I mean, sowwy, am a bit wound up listening to the silly mare.

I dont think the cambridge plan is for the whole of the courses to be online though - just the lectures. So tutorials and small seminar groups still expected to run in person (though socially distanced)?

Isn't that worse than everything being online? At least if it's all online, students can continue living with parents and save the living costs. If there are going to be occasional "face to face" sessions, they'll have to live at Uni, but end up spending far too much time stuck in their rooms (which are often pretty depressing places) watching online lectures. Presumably they won't be able to study in libraries etc due to social distancing? Not only that, but presumably campus bars etc will be closed, clubs & societies will be limited etc. Sounds a pretty miserable existence really. My DS has been really put off by the whole thing and probably won't go to Uni now and get a job instead. He's toying with the idea of going to the local Uni instead, which would at least mean he could live at home, save the costs, and just go to the campus occasionally for the "face to face" sessions. As for going to a city Uni miles away which was his first choice, that's definitely out now.

DD would defeat have had a gap year if she was applying this year. At least as a second year she could enjoy living independently with friends and having some far to face contact but it’s an expensive experiment.

Definitely not defeat!

Great news from Nottingham Trent....

"Each of our campuses will be open for the next academic year, 2020 / 21. We will be offering a mixture of on-campus, in-class teaching alongside online learning. This blended approach has always been our aspiration as our future model and as far as possible we are accelerating its development."

Excellent. I was starting to worry especially as I have signed a contract for year 2 private accommodation. DS seems happy with this arrangement as he just wants to go back, but would have dropped out if it was only online tutoring.

That's good news @minesawine. Good on NTU for sticking their head above the parapet with a solution that seems sensible and will suit the students too.

Positive news.

Not read ATT but Cambridge have said no face to face teaching next year 😕

Sorry!!! Just seen I should have RTTT.
Gutted for two of my 6th form tutees who have offers there😕Hoping they can switch to their insurances (Durham)

Waiting to hear about Durham still.

Thanks Mine - I get more information from you than from my DS . Has your DS been doing his exams this week? DS had one on Tuesday (perhaps the same exam?).

@BeltaneBride they are hoping to do face-face supervisions and small group teaching. Only the lectures going on line. I think Oxbridge have more than their fair share of elderly academics who will have to be careful.

Hi Rags I only find things out because I snoop all the time. He rarely checks his emails, it drives me mad. But he is really pleased. He has been doing exams and has one tomorrow. Personally, I dont see the point of multiple choice, open book exams but what do I know. I wonder when they get their results.

Agree Mine - the first exam didn’t seem much of a challenge .. DS hasn’t got another exam until next week.

Gutted for two of my 6th form tutees who have offers there. Hoping they can switch to their insurances (Durham).

Cambridge's position (miserable, appatently):
Small group teaching – supervisions, seminars or individual tuition – is at the heart of our educational provision and will continue in person as much as possible. Given the likely need for continued social distancing, we have decided to suspend mass lectures in person for the next academic year. Lectures will be available online; this system is already in place in some University Departments. Lectures are only one part of the rich education that Cambridge offers and freeing space in lecture halls will allow us to concentrate on delivering small group teaching, lab work and practicals.

Durham's position:
TBA

NTU's position (yay! Good old NTU! apparently):
Each of our campuses will be open for the next academic year, 2020 / 21. We will be offering a mixture of on-campus, in-class teaching alongside online learning. This blended approach has always been our aspiration as our future model and as far as possible we are accelerating its development.

1. Cambridge and NTU appear to me to be saying just about the same thing (unless I've really missed something here?). And personally (having only a DC returning, or not, to 2nd year at a completely different university) I'm in the camp of seeing the offer at both as probably being the best solution that they can offer at the moment. So 2. I don't know why one would advise anyone to try to move away from that. All universities will have to work within the national rules on social distancing, so if those preclude the kind of mass gathering that an undergraduate lecture represents, Durham isn't going to be able to decide off its own bat that everything will proceed as normal in the autumn.

If any offer holders really do want to change their firm / insurance choices, the UCAS website is the place to go for advice as to how to (attempt to, depending on when they entered their decisions) do this.

I feel that at some point someone is going to have to decide whether this is about virus control or not. If x thousand young people all move to a university city, they are going to get together. Simply cancelling lectures does nothing to stop the spread of a virus - kids meet up! That what they want (and need!). Either we want to halt spread of disease, in which case universities need to stay physically shut as now, or they allow students back and go on with the herd immunity approach. The concept that students will stay apart is totally unrealistic.

I think we possibly just need to bite the bullet (as a country) and go for the Swedish approach (which is after all what was initially suggested) but with the vulnerable continuing to shield.

It's really not right to expect young people to put their lives (and hormones) on hold for an extended period of time.

Remember when some of us were saying not so long ago that university wasn't necessarily the best time of our lives. Well at this rate it won't be for any of this cohort!!!