University 2020 :5: Results day approaching and beyond

[MillicentMartha]

Old thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3855474-University-2020-4-The-wait-for-grades-and-better-days-ahead?pg=40

Less than 3 months to go until we have a better idea what the future has in store for our DC. Let’s hope that even if most lectures are online that accommodation is open and they can move up, across or down to their university towns and start their student life.

We should have been in the middle of exams, instead we have this strange limbo of lockdown. It could have been worse, though.

@Divoc2020

Yup! Another parent of a dyslexic child diagnosed late here too... DS also watches TV with subtitles, reads books alongside audiobooks, has real difficulties with planning/ sequencing tasks, quickly suffers from information overload if confronted with pages of poorly signposted text, finds it hard to multi-task, forgets verbal instructions instantly...

Yes!!!

I wonder if parents of DC with additional needs are attracted particularly to MN? DS3 is borderline dyspraxic but copes fine at school. His fine motor skills aren’t very good and he’s most definitely quirky, but because DS2’s ASD is so obvious and pronounced I’ve never really worried about DS3.

I wonder if parents of DC with additional needs are attracted particularly to MN?

I think they find it when they are looking online for advice or support.

When DS was in Y6, I was concerned about how he would cope at secondary school with his additional needs. I found a really helpful thread on here started by someone a couple of years previously when they'd had similar worries for their child.

Yes, I was on that thread! I came because of DS2 and then stayed for me.

My Ds1 is now working but still has many dyspraxia / ADD traits . He dropped out of university ( ironically has a better job than many of his peers who graduated) but struggled with organisation . He is 26 now and very resistant to assessment and I think because ds2 problems were much more extreme we missed ds1 because he coped do well until year 13 . School never suggested it and in fact were dismissive . I have recently resolved to have another go at him about getting an adult assessment .

Also it is amazing how things have changed in the 8 years between ds1 and ds3 , there is much more information , support and school ( same one) were super receptive to our concerns . I do wonder if we should have ds3 assessed though I would hate for him to fall at the same hurdle as ds1 , in his favour he doesn’t have the lack of organisational skills and is receptive to help.

Thanks all. I seemed to have opened a big door here
I think, because I work with small children with significant needs, it never seemed 'right' somehow to worry too much about my own dcs' needs when they were 'coping' as well as they are. I can't, in any way compare my family's life to the lives so many of the families I work with cope with.

@MillicentMartha

Yes, I was on that thread! I came because of DS2 and then stayed for me.

“...and stayed for me” That resonates with me so much, though I don’t remember why or how I first found mumsnet. I’ve learned so much, and had so much helpful advice, and help - at one point a poster PM’d me and was able to arrange 2 weeks work experience for DS1 at a time we couldn’t find anything relevant locally.

This is a wonderful community aka the infamous den of vipers according to the tabloids

17- 20 universities are on the brink of collapse - eg. SOAS

@Bouledeneige is just teasing us. Why be specific about SOAS, and specific about the numbers 17-20, but no info who the other 16-19 are. Argh.

My guess is the "brink" Unis are the ones with highest numbers of overseas students? There are some very big names on that list.

SOAS can't go under in the midst of all the BLM focus. It may join UCL if it is struggling. I used to think it was part of UCL anyway as it is physically surrounded by UCL.

Just read this article - looks like SOAS was selling the family silver (London property) before COVID and they are affected more than most due to their international nature, so their future does look precarious.

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/soas-faces-viability-problems-amid-pandemic-crisis-director-warns#

I think the ones most at risk are those which have expanded very quickly numbers wise and also invested heavily on capital projects . They tend to be very highly geared and are mostly the newer universities .

SOAS has been precarious since its inception, it’s small and is by its very nature pretty niche and does not have the larger endowments of many other London University Colleges such as UCL or Kings. I suspect it will be rescued by London University As a whole and subsumed into one or other if the constituent colleges in the same way that The Guildhall became part of Goldsmiths and Bedford College became part of Royal Holloway .

Reading was the subject of an investigation last year I think due to the poor state of their balance sheet but I think they have been selling land for housing to rescue themselves , London Met has also attracted a lot of publicity about falling numbers.

This article is pretty sobering

members.tortoisemedia.com/2020/05/26/universities-in-crisis-main-piece-off-campus-cc/content.html

I'm sorry if my comments about universities on the brink of collapse were annoying. Clearly if I knew more detail on which ones I'd say.

I know about SOAS since my friend works there and they have been told formally that's if they have insufficient enrolment they will close in September. A friend who is a Dean of faculty at Queen Mary told me the university is having to make 20 percent cuts across all budgets including all levels of staff and visiting professors.

Two Deans of faculty - one at Nottingham and one at Loughborough told me they are making similar cuts and that 17-20 other universities (not them) are on the brink of collapse. They did not say which but I think they implied they were mostly the newer universities (former polys) though I might be wrong. They do not rely on lots of foreign students but have over extended. But it could be those who rely on foreign student fees (if they have insufficient reserves to hold them up). Clearly many established universities have in any case a massive hole in their finances due to their generous final salary pension schemes. Hence all the faculty strikes over proposed changes to their pension rights. They are extremely generous pensions.

Anyway my apologies for mentioning this. I had myself looked up the annual report and accounts of my DC's universities to try to ascertain their financial health.

Very interesting, if depressing, article. Thanks Peaseblossom.

Interesting article thank you. Reducing social distancing to 1 m in July will make all the difference surely. Down to normal in Aug in time for results hopefully.

Have any of your DC been given reading lists from their Firm or Insurance choices?

DS has been sent a reading list from Durham but has not dared to open it for fear of incurring the wrath of whatever from high atop the thing.

This fear also means we must not buy anything that might possibly be useful at university or write any dates in the diary that suggest that he is taking his grades for granted.

It's going to be a long 2 months...

We're waiting on reading lists with registration information in August (Uni of Gloucestershire Geography).

DD has a reading list & I've bought several books on it as they're not available online. She's hoping to take joint honours, so she probably has 3 times as many, so needs to get started.

I've taken a look . They've suggested 20 books & a couple more online. I hope other unis suggest some of the same!

DD had a list for literature from Cardiff a few weeks ago, I was pleased that there were so many she hadn't read on it, as she needed something to focus on.

Think the Nintendo switch has won though so far!

Tennis is a priority here.

DD hasn’t received a list. Is this unusual?

Nothing for maths!

I spoke to our local Youth Connexions advisor today, she says as a result of some universities switching to online learning there has been an upsurge in applications to the Open University- online learning for a fraction of the price.