Government petition re: tuition fees refund.

[justasking111]

All students should be reimbursed of this years tuition fees as universities are now online only due to COVID-19, with only powerpoints online for learning materials which is not worthy of up to £9,250. Furthermore, all assessments are being reconsidered to ‘make do’ and build up credits

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/302855

I'm a full time student too. I think this is ridiculous. My university is doing everything it can to deliver content. E learning, online lectures and alternative assessments. We have been given extensions on some things to accommodate for our questionable mental health during this pandemic. The staff will no doubt be in the same situation yet are still marking work and supporting us.
No I won't be signing. Perhaps those who do could repeat the year if they want their moneys worth?

Parent of two uni students here, including a final year student.

Thank you to all the uni staff going to huge lengths to sort this mess out.

Thanks for the supportive comments - they mean a lot.

I had a rough night and was up at 5am prepping for a 9am live session. Lots of good humour (and discussion) in that hour!

I am a university lecturer. The work that this situation has created is indescribable. I work part time on a .8 contract. I have easily worked double that this week

I am a lecturer as well and also found this quite upsetting - we have been working frantically to try and get everything online for our students, and to support them through all of this, both academically and emotionally - because their wellbeing and their education are enormously important to us. It is really not the case that we've all just stopped working and gone off for some kind of holiday!

We also obviously taught for the entire year before this as usual, and quite a few of us are on short-term contracts so are currently looking at our jobs ending soon, and the next academic year being a really terrible one to try and find a new job in. So many of us are combining all of this work with difficult personal situations (even before you consider those also caring for children at home, or with ill relatives, or who are ill and vulnerable themselves).

However, I was very cheered by the supportive comments on this thread, thank you very much to those who've been positive. It is really nice to know that some students/parents appreciate everything we've been doing.

I won't be signing this as a mature student. My uni tutors have been desperately trying to figure out the ways through this, supporting via email, learning how to do video conferencing for our least techie-possible staff member (who is lovely but literally just knows the techie stuff needed for her day-to-day work), digging out ancient laptops to try to keep working at home and taking a hell of a lot of bullshit and disorganisation from higher up the university ladder (the management of our uni can go fuck themselves to be honest because they have been shit).

My department staff have been awesome and have kept their sense of humour with us - some of the professional veneer's dropped in hilarious ways - the online session yesterday with random hands popping into shot delivering cups of tea and biscuits was funny as fuck.

I've had to apply to extend some deadlines and defer some exams because revising with my kids at home is nigh on impossible - and the admin in our department have moved heaven and earth to push this through panel as quickly as they could too.

So management = shite; lecturing staff = awesome.

Absolutely not . Everything Errol said.

Parent of 2 DCs (albeit no finalists) - we're very clear that their academic depts are working flat out to ensure the fairest outcome viz a viz end of year assessments/ online exams/ whatever and to set up remote teaching for next term.

If I were an academic putting in that much effort during such uncertain and stressful times, I'd want to weep.

Another 'thank you' to all academic staff navigating their way through this - we really appreciate your hard work and commitment

Another academic working through probable corona virus. On day 17 of illness now, and out of bed to try and get another audio powerpoint lecture online before I need to go back to bed with exhaustion. All of my students have work to be getting on with and I will be working through the Easter vacation doing more online lectures and live seminars. My own son looks like he will be missing the entire third term of his third year at uni, but we wouldn't dream of asking for a refund of tuition fees.

[that was first year, not third year for my son]

No, have some integrity. We need to maintain a world to return to.

It's not just lecturers who are working their butts off. All support staff in well being, support and guidance and adapting their provision to offer a remote service. Students can still get help with their mental health, money concerns, careers guidance, extensions, health concerns.........

Our students matter so much to us! Like another poster mentioned, there will most likely be job cuts in this sector and I am very concerned as my contract ends in July. I love my job, the students that I serve and am proud of my university and its actions to do everything to help students.
Threads like this and the attached petition are quite frankly a slap in the face to the momentous hard work that is going on behind the scenes.

While I think fees should be paid, my dd is in her first year at university. Because of the strikes after Christmas she has only had one complete week of face to face lectures since before Christmas. I do think they have some arguments in their side for a refund.

I think it’s really problematic to start conflating the strike with disruption related to Corona Virus. The NUS actually supported the strike action

Regardless, launching (and promoting) a petition at this point in time is utterly crass.

It would be a bit like me whinging to my line manager about buying my own equipment, consuming my own electricity etc.. (along with millions of other new home workers). If there is a right time, this isn’t it?

What every other academic on this thread has said. This is an ignorant and short-sighted greedy self-centred petition.

Do you actually want a university to come back to in September?

Do you know all the many things your tuition fee doesn't quite cover?

Buildings, including student-centred residential buildings, student unions, sports centres, medical centres, counselling rooms, study rooms, computer rooms, and libraries ...

Maintenance of buildings and grounds - from the necessary daily cleaning many students seem to think someone else picks up their endless trail of coffee cups and sweet wrappers to changing and replacing lightbulbs, to servicing computers, filling printers& photocopiers with paper & toner, to the supply of essential consumables & materials in labs, and the lab technicians to ensure you all don't maim or kill yourselves in learning hw to use them, ... I'm sure we could all add to this list ad infinitum

Libraries: library staff, from your subject librarian to the shelf-stackers, buying books, subscribing to journals - some of which thanks Elsevier can cost up to £10,000 per annum for 1 institutional subscription. Subscribing to databases - again, the cost of these is eye-watering, maintenance of safe warm well-lit spaces for study, computers

Security: you know those friendly people who patrol the streets near a university or drive a van around at nightclub chucking-out time to ensure the vodka'd up young women get home safely, and the young men don't get into drunken fist fights - yes, gosh they need to be paid.

And so on, and on.

The sheer ignorance of not understanding this. I'm just recovering from 2 weeks of work: tutoring students over remote platforms, managing meetings over remote platforms, triaging and mediating the daily flow of information. We are working harder than usual at a time of the teaching year which is always super-busy in the first place.

£9k per year is cheap for a world class education, where you are taught by world leaders in your subject. I'm acknowledged as one of the leaders in my field internationally - I teach 1st year undergrads - they get incredible value, and they're still getting it.

Yes, @RoyalAlfred "crass" is the word. And a mild adjective to describe the utter stupidity of the petition.

Idiotic petition. Both DD's have courses with a large practical content (VetMed
and theatre design) but the colleges are doing their best in the circumstances and students are all in the same boat. DD2s college will go under if they have to refund fees.

Stupid, shortsighted greed from whoever thought this up.