No uni return til Aug/Sept

[Newgirls]

So Edin and St A have said no f2f teaching til next academic year (apart from med and some post-grad) and students should not be there unless v specific needs. Very sad that this cohort are going through this. I assume English unis will follow?

hear you. I feel physically ill and burnt out with the stress of it all.

It's awful isn't it? I woke up covered in a rash today! Pretty sure it's stress induced.
Hope you get a break soon.

I’m sure your students appreciate what you’ve done. I know my 2nd and 3rd years have said how they see what me and my colleagues are doing, bending over backwards within the constraints we have to make things as good as they can be. I think the 1st years aren’t sure what’s going on. 😆

My students are amazing and certainly do appreciate all the support.

I've noticed I'm having to do a lot more pastoral support too which is very draining and obviously can't be ignored.

This thread is frustrating - we have some saying there is no teaching in term 3. Others saying they do teach. We get it - everyone is different. But also some unis are being very selective about what they choose to do. The inconsistencies on hear alone show this.

Unis are going to look very different in future years - students will buy content to suit - business and IT from tech firms, US unis etc - unions are sleepwalking into job losses surely. Why would international students fly over to one of our non RG unis when they will be able to buy courses. The student experience of being on campus is what sets them apart. Crazy times.

This thread is frustrating - we have some saying there is no teaching in term 3. Others saying they do teach.

What's frustrating is people not reading!
The vast majority of undergraduate teaching is completed by Easter but there are more to universities than undergraduate courses.
Plus, people have different contracts. When I only taught UG courses I didn't teach in term 3. Now I'm involved in Postgraduate courses I do teach ......

We get it - everyone is different. But also some unis are being very selective about what they choose to do. The inconsistencies on hear alone show this.

Again, there are literally hundreds of universities and institutions offering higher education. Of course it isn't consistent

Unis are going to look very different in future years - students will buy content to suit - business and IT from tech firms, US unis etc - unions are sleepwalking into job losses surely. Why would international students fly over to one of our non RG unis when they will be able to buy courses. The student experience of being on campus is what sets them apart. Crazy times.

Okay then.... People thought this would happen with MOOCs but it didn't.
Universities WILL have people back on campus as soon as they're allowed so that student experience will return.

This thread is about undergrads not medics/postgrads who we know are returning.

Of course job losses will happen. Why will students want say IT courses from here? It’s well known that some FE institutions are already cutting research and courses this year. But you don’t want to listen, it won’t affect me?

Also remember some UG courses are recognised “long courses” with teaching which goes on into July. Medicine, nursing, allied health professions, etc.

So just because such courses are set up to run like this and always have been doesn’t mean the average history course can suddenly have their teaching extended into July as well.

Jerkstore pls read the thread before posting again in anger. It is about letting parents know about f2f after Easter. Many of whom seem to think they might return. It’s clear from this and other posters that this is increasingly unlikely.

@Covidcorvid

Also remember some UG courses are recognised “long courses” with teaching which goes on into July. Medicine, nursing, allied health professions, etc.

So just because such courses are set up to run like this and always have been doesn’t mean the average history course can suddenly have their teaching extended into July as well.

This has been covered at the start of the thread - we know these courses are open.

This is about informing parents that many others/most won’t be returning til Aug/sept.

Can I ask uni staff to pls take their agenda and frustrations elsewhere!

This is about informing readers about unis being open to f2f this year and it is clearly on an individual uni basis.

@Newgirls

This thread is about undergrads not medics/postgrads who we know are returning.

Of course job losses will happen. Why will students want say IT courses from here? It’s well known that some FE institutions are already cutting research and courses this year. But you don’t want to listen, it won’t affect me?

No it's not that. One of my subjects is higher education policy and practice so I understand the current risks and issues better then most.

You asked why there were inconsistent answers with regards teaching in term 3. That's why there has been references to medics and postgrad courses. Lots of staff teach across UG and PG so while we might not be teaching your child in term 3 that doesn't mean we aren't teaching at all.

@Newgirls

Jerkstore pls read the thread before posting again in anger. It is about letting parents know about f2f after Easter. Many of whom seem to think they might return. It’s clear from this and other posters that this is increasingly unlikely.

My university have said they are still waiting for instructions from the govt before they can say anything. Guess they need to know when lockdown is ending, what restrictions will be eased when.

Afaik it’s currently only certain courses who are allowed,by the government, to do f2f teaching. So blame Boris if you want to blame anyone. 🤷‍♀️

Boris says he didn’t forsee the variants, the second wave and this lockdown so not sure why the universities should have. For all anyone knew in Sept the levels could have carried on dropping and every have been ok by December? I mean I didn’t think that was likely....but it was possible I guess.

@Newgirls

Jerkstore pls read the thread before posting again in anger. It is about letting parents know about f2f after Easter. Many of whom seem to think they might return. It’s clear from this and other posters that this is increasingly unlikely.

You don't get to tell people what they can and can't post about.

I'm sure if people were posting sweeping generalisations about your profession you would want to respond 🤷🏼‍♀️

So has any other PARENT heard if their student will return after Easter yet? I guess most unis will wait til Monday now after BJs announcement.

This has been covered at the start of the thread - we know these courses are open.

This is about informing parents that many others/most won’t be returning til Aug/sept.

Can I ask uni staff to pls take their agenda and frustrations elsewhere!

This is about informing readers about unis being open to f2f this year and it is clearly on an individual uni basis.

No you don’t know these courses will be open, because we don’t know. They’re currently not open in anything like normal terms. 3 hours max a week compared to the normal 37 isn’t open. I’d love to know if we will be “open” after Easter. But I don’t. Because Boris hasn’t told me.

I haven’t got an agenda and I’m not frustrated. I was trying to help explain things to people who don’t understand what’s going on and why.

All universities will be constrained by what they are told they are allowed to do by the govt. some have decided that even if Boris turns round next week and says unis can open on 8th March (unlikely) it’s too late to prep teaching. Most teaching is prepped way in advance. I’ve prepped everything from now until august. Personally I could move from the prepped online sessions to f2f at short notice but guess it might not work for everyone. For some people their f2f stuff might be very different to online stuff and if lecturers are saying they can’t convert easily and that they don’t have time to prep 2 lots of everything just in case then the unis have to listen.

Oh and as a PARENT no I haven’t heard if Dd will return after Easter.

I started the thread and uni staff have detailed it for their own agenda which tbh is a shame. This is a parenting forum and this is a huge issue for many parents. Thanks for your input and I think you have made your frustrations clear.

Now can we focus on the thread topic which is informing parents about campuses not being (or might be) open after Easter

Pls let us know when you hear!

Universities will wait until the government advise what they are allowed to do. No university is going to guarantee f2f teaching after Easter as no-ones knows how things are going to develop. Apart from some notable exceptions I didn’t think many UG courses had any anyway after Easter (revision, exams and then end of term celebrations etc).
Just a thought but if some universities are stating now no f2f until the Autumn, maybe it’s confirming to first year students that this is how their terms normally operate so they don't expect lectures to start up after Easter?

Now can we focus on the thread topic which is informing parents about campuses not being (or might be) open after Easter

But aren't university staff well placed to share this information too? And offer some context?

As at Covid's institution we are still waiting for the announcement from Boris. We are online until Easter but haven't planned beyond - although we have strategies in place for a variety of options. My DHs uni is the same.

A well respected HE blog reported the following this morning:

Yesterday it was reported in the press that a decision on when to “reopen” universities is yet to be taken. And at Thursday’s meeting of the Department for Education (DfE) higher education taskforce, it became clear that the government is considering a staggered return across two months

The input from university staff is valuable, it provides an in-sight into the issues they face in trying to deal with the situation we are all in. I think if a teacher had been asked what they are doing at the moment, why can’t they give up some of their summer holiday as they won’t be doing anything etc those answers would not have been as polite as the university staff have been here.
Ps no I don’t work at a university, I’m a parent.

@Freedobby

The input from university staff is valuable, it provides an in-sight into the issues they face in trying to deal with the situation we are all in. I think if a teacher had been asked what they are doing at the moment, why can’t they give up some of their summer holiday as they won’t be doing anything etc those answers would not have been as polite as the university staff have been here. Ps no I don’t work at a university, I’m a parent.

I think the comment was about summer term not holiday

I think the comment was about summer term not holiday

There was a comment about the summer break being x number of weeks and why can’t something be offered during that time.

It may be worth pointing out that although the students get the long vacations, staff work year round.

Undergrad students, I should say.

It may be worth pointing out that although the students get the long vacations, staff work year round

Totally agree, that was the point I was trying to make and hopefully other parents with first year students will hopefully understand more about the challenges facing universities.

Another issue, if it is decided that there will be no f2f for undergrads until the autumn, is that coronaviruses tend to peak in winter. We could end up wasting another summer like last year, when f2f would have been perfectly safe, only to close everything down in the autumn when case numbers start to rise. Obviously this depends on the success or otherwise of the vaccination rollout for younger adults but students like my son who is a 2nd year at UCL could end up with no f2f from March of his first year right up to the end of his course. Every opportunity for these students to get any part of a normal university existence needs to be grabbed and if that means teaching is prioritised over other activities for academics then for this year that is right. The young have sacrificed enough to protect the old as far as I’m concerned.

@Freedobby

I think the comment was about summer term not holiday

There was a comment about the summer break being x number of weeks and why can’t something be offered during that time.

All our teaching will be done by then. We have had full weeks of teaching, all online, but all subjects taught. More than last year with the strikes. There is no more content to teach us. We go straight into exam season in the summer term.