University experience is awful at the moment

[Cupcakke]

DD moved into university on Saturday. The rules are very stringent, both campus bars are closed, the university library has very little capacity and the restaurant is take away only. There are virtually no freshers events in person.

Her flat mates are very shy and not very social and she is in a small flat.

Large gatherings keep occurring but the penalty for this is very severe so DD very cautious not to attend these.

She is essentially watching Netflix in her room. I fear for the loneliness. The online events she has attended are poorly attended and just very boring.

Teaching starts next week and her In person contact hours are just 4 hours a week.

Anyone else’s dc thinking this years university experience is non existent.

@paprikasausage - I agree that ‘life is what you make it’ but I really feel for those who can’t take the initiative socially, either because that is not the way they are wired or because they do not yet have not the social confidence. Great for those that are gregarious and bold, sounds like your daughter is. But truly terrible for the shy and those not socially confident. And we need both kinds of student to find a happy path at university, get degrees and come out the other end qualified and more confident. My daughter is not shy, but the obstacles to making friends are massive - Quiet corridor, single seat restaurant, online learning, closed social spaces, no face to face freshers stuff, no visiting other households etc etc.
She was super excited that the university riding club was starting as that is her thing - but so few spaces (due to social distancing I suppose) she couldn’t get a place. Felt a bit like the last straw!

Just have a look at the bbc Scotland website ladies. Students in Scotland banned from going to pubs and any hospitality and banned from socialising at all outside their bubble. It is in effect house arrest. My stress levels are through the roof I just want my dd home now.

I believe if you leave before two weeks are up you don’t have to pay the fees. Time for a quick decision for us!

That headline is really misleading and alarmist. Reading beyond the headline it says 'Students are being advised not to go to pubs, parties or restaurants', and the Scottish government 'will ask them not to go to bars or other hospitality venues'. So there's no ban - which would be unenforcable.

Although if their university rules require them to follow such advice from the state rather than just the law and they will be kicked off the course if they do then that becomes a ban in effect.

And bars and restaurants will be increasingly reluctant to take their bookings, if it brings them to the attention of the authorities. My DD in England (but in an area with local regulations) has already been turned away from the front of 'spoons queue with her (cold ) sober five friends, after waiting an hour Too many students already, apparently. Goodness knows who else wants to be in Weatherspoons on a midweek evening.

The Scottish restaurant/pub ban is so depressing - and you know what - the big city uk unis will follow. The Scottish ones just opened earlier.

A little worn - I think dd will be back at reading week - what a sad situation.

My ds is supposed to be starting his course in Dublin. We have deferred until November ( live in France) but paid up fully for halls and fees. Am feeling increasingly worried about it. He is very shy and will be so far from home. Should we jack it in now before he even starts?

He could do the course online pink and see what happens in spring?

@Xenia am I correct in believing you're law trained? What are your thoughts on how the ban (currently in Scotland and some English cities, I believe) on students travelling home for the weekend fits with the right of the individual to family life? Their households can't really be called families and they're not even of their own choosing.
What a mess.

Sounds like Scotland should just go back to the red gowns for undergrads so you can see them coming!

Poor things. It wouldn't surprise me if a lot chose to go home now. I think I would have done. I was horribly homesick, but knowing that I could hop on a train and go home whenever I wanted to made it a bit better. I think if that safety net had gone, I'd have decided it wasn't worth it and gone home permanently.

@Bingobango69 it is not miss leading at all as others have said which pub cafe ir restaurant will take the risk. Also sounds like the equivalent of bouncers on the halls of residence doors! @Newgirls dont want to burst your bubble but your dd may not be allowed to leave at reading week, I haven't yet broken that news to my dd.

My daughter is coming home. Loves the university/course. Loves the city. Hates the hall/prison like existence. Going to ask to do it online for first year.
My impression is that there are a small number of students totally ignoring the rules and perhaps making it tougher for the rest.
I imagine lots of English students in Scotland may follow suit.

Students in Scotland have been asked not to go to pubs and restaurants and stay in for this weekend only.

Alittle - I think they can leave but my guess is not go back - dd is doing the forms to study online

What a state of affairs

@GaribaldiGirl I don’t blame your dd, sounds like she’s had a very difficult time, and if everything is online, really what is the point?! We are heading off to Durham at the weekend, and I’m anxious for my dd but she wants to go, so guess we need to give it a try.

@Newgirls dont blame her.We might do the same at reading week if possible but she wants to stay at the min. And yet another U turn by the SNP when faced with a backlash the restriction for students are first this weekend only!! Think that might be the power of the Scottish mammy!!😂

My dd is due to move in to college on Saturday, we have been given a 30 minute slot to do so but we still don’t know if we can help her in, whether we have to bring all her food up with us because she apparently can’t leave the grounds for 4 days, whether she will have a bathroom and kitchen to use as international students are still isolating in the colleges, despite statements saying that they would be isolating elsewhere in advance of moving in. Emails have come back contradicting each other. It’s a mess. We are basically sending our kids, some from safer areas into ones with local restrictions and where as students they will be vilified by the local residents for bringing on down the virus, into accommodation with complete strangers from whom there will be no respite and with the possibility of not returning home when it all hits the fan...and I’m supposed to trust the university to look out for my kids wellbeing! Their response to being in isolation is to ask your friends to bring in your shopping- what friends? They haven’t made any yet let alone rely on them for food.
Oh and the blended learning that the uni is banging on about is a complete myth- all of her teaching and learning is online, no f2f at all. All this anxiety even before we’ve talked about the socialising side of things-I can see us just turning round and coming home on Saturday

I was told limited time slot but no one timed it, I think it's more guidance than enforced. I stopped & had lunch (pack up) with DD.

BBC news channel has breaking news that students at University in Scotland have been banned from returning home.
Don't know how they think they can police that. It's not on the website yet.

@worstofbothworlds A friend who is a way more IT literate than me says REMO is a far better free platform for online group work/socialising. Individuals can hop from table to table. No vested interest. remo.co/

Students in Scotland also banned from going out to pubs or bars this weekend.

Who can physically stop students from going home?
They have done no crime.

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/24/thousands-of-students-in-isolation-at-20-uk-universities

It’s not a ban on going home - more ‘encouraged not to’. Cambridge has already suggested students don’t go home though they say that usually anyway tho more firmly worded this time. It will be same for the English unis too especially the city ones. Scotland just start earlier