Return to university

[SouthCoastShell]

I've just watched all of Boris's announcement and he doesn't mention when students can return to university. Does anyone know when students are allowed to return?

DD's friends from Imperial, Durham & Southampton are all still at home. Their halls offered them refunds if they stayed at home and all teaching is online until next year.

It’s ridiculous that the decision is being left so late before the start of term. So many students stuck at home with no idea if they are allowed back or not. Absolute disgrace.

@Hoghgyni

DD's friends from Imperial, Durham & Southampton are all still at home. Their halls offered them refunds if they stayed at home and all teaching is online until next year.

Ah, OK, my son was offered a refund but chose to go back. His flat of six are all there too.

My BiL has had an extension granted for a PhD as his university library in London has been closed since last March and he needs access to archives. Access to facilities in London is certainly mixed.

It does just seem so unfair that the government have promised to look at when students can go back and haven't said anything yet. DS's university are also waiting for government guidance to decide if he can go back next term or not. He needs to be there, with other students, even if all teaching is still on line. The fact that many students are back on campus doesn't mean that the government can ignore those who aren't.

university owned halls remain closed

My dd is in University accommodation, and living there, as are many of her friends, in different Universities across the Country.

and there have been few opportunities for freshers to find friends to live with next year whilst watching online lectures from bedrooms in their parents' houses many miles away.

Well, not all, or even many students have been doing that.
They had all the first term to get to know their flatmates, and, for various parts of the term, the opportunity to meet up with others from their courses too.

Their halls offered them refunds if they stayed at home and all teaching is online until next year.
So, they chose to live at home with their parents, rather than choosing to live in their accommodation with their friends ?

BackforGood your DD is one of the lucky ones then. Not all universities have allowed students back in to their accommodation. Many freshers had a short Autumn term and have not returned post Christmas.

Obviously I'm pleased for those students who have been able to return to their university accommodation, but there are still a significant number out there (including DS) who don't yet have this option. Even if he turned up (a) he won't be able to get into his room and (b) he would be in breach of college rules and would be asked to leave.

I realise that some universities are heading into a revision/exam period, but there are a significant number of students who have several weeks of teaching scheduled for next term.

The government said they would issue guidance on when students on non-practical based subjects can return to university, with at least a week's notice. As some universities seem to be waiting for this before announcing a decision on whether any students can return next term, I'm hoping the government will make this announcement soon.

I have read on here that some accommodation will not allow students in. I'm not disputing that. I am disputing people saying university owned halls remain closed, suggesting all universities accommodation remains closed. That is clearly not true.

Many freshers had a short Autumn term and have not returned post Christmas.
As above - I'm aware there are a small number who have been locked out of their halls.

I was not aware anybody had been forced out of their halls prior to 9th December. (Probably a week earlier than some students would have come home). I am aware, again that some students chose to come home but didn't realise anyone had been made to.
You learn something everyday on here.

Which Universities forced students out of their rooms ?

It seems obvious to me that the experiences of students have been quite different depending on their course and uni.

My DS is lucky enough to have been able to stay in his uni accommodation but he’s not been allowed to meet anyone outside his flat since September and has had no F2F teaching at all, being in the NW which has either been in lockdown or high tier throughout and not having any practical elements to his course. He gets on adequately with his flat, but they are very different personalities and those doing practical courses (who have met and worked F2F with them) have chosen to live with course mates next year.

Others had a more normal start for a few weeks but haven’t been allowed back to their accommodation since early Dec.

Others have had a mixture of the two, or have felt there was no point returning to empty flats/corridors, preferring to at least have the company of their families to possibly help safeguard their MH.

So experiences have been mixed and some have had it worse than others.

I have sympathy for them all and hope things go back to some semblance of normality asap.

I have found amongst DS's friends that the more social friends are back and have been since after Christmas as unis such as Durham, Bristol, LSE, UCL and Exeter and the quieter ones have stayed home. The only ones "not allowed back" seem to be those at Oxbridge or in Scottish unis.

Durham: We urge our entire community to follow government guidance to stay where you are.
Easter Term starts on 26 April. We ask students not to come back to Durham ahead of that date or before government gives consent, unless it is essential you do so to support your educational needs. We expect revision and teaching activity in the Easter Term to be a blend of face-to-face and online

Lancaster: Wherever possible,students should remain at their current accommodationand should not travel to access their university facilities until face-to-face teaching resumes for their programme.

Imperial: Students have only been asked to return if theirprogrammecannot reasonably be continued online. Although our campuses and facilities are open,students should not visit our campuses if their course delivery remainsonline.There are some limited exceptions to thisforstudentswhoare unable to study from home.

Nottingham: All other students will be contacted by their school or department following the next government review scheduled by the end of the Easter holidays. Students will be given at least one week’s notice ahead of any further return. Government advice remains that students should stay where they are currently until shortly before their specified start date, unless they meet the exceptional circumstances listed inDepartment for Educationguidance.

I'm obviously delighted for any student who has managed to go back. However, the government said that they would give students firm news about their return. They haven't. They need the promised update as some universities are refusing to budge until they do.

@incywincyspiders

They have been back for weeks (I work on a university campus)

Not all of them. DS1 is at a uni college which hasn't allowed them back on campus since early December.

DS (1st year Humanities Durham) was asked to leave after testing on November 30th. (Part of that ‘staggered travel home’)

In the new year, he was strongly discouraged from returning - he would have had to spend all day in his room and catering was in strictly timed 20 min slots. 3 of his household/staircase of 18 went back (ones with bad home WiFi or tricky parental relationships) and he stayed here - space, siblings to play sport with, local friends to go for walks with.

By early March, he was getting itchy feet and returned to Durham for the last 4/5 weeks of term, as did 10 more of his household.

He’s planning to return on the 20th in the faint hope of some pre-season cricket training.

"Arts and Social Science students have not been allowed to have F2F teaching. There was supposed to be a decision today about whether they could do so after Easter."

Just because they aren't allowed doesn't mean they aren't havent come back. We had 95% of first year students back on campus.

That being said, we did have a lot return back to their parental homes after Easter (even though they were specifically told travelling between the two was not an option). We aren't expecting that many back after Easter as teaching and exams will continue to be online.

That is exactly the point we are making though. The Government hasn't said that they are allowed & until they do, some students cannot return.

@Hoghgyni

That is exactly the point we are making though. The Government hasn't said that they are allowed & until they do, some students cannot return.

Exactly. If the government are allowing people into holiday homes as of Monday, they need to put students welfare and education on the table and allow the remaining students back. The long term cost to them is huge.

I thought it was mid-April as term starts?

Mine is in private accommodation and has pretty much remained there throughout.

Some activities, such as sports clubs for outdoors sports, are starting up again, so distinctly disinclined to come to parental home for Easter

The announcements really should have covered students. Perhaps along the lines of:

• how courses will be delivered may vary, and we would still urge as much as possible to be online. But students may, if they need or wish, return to their termtime addresses from the weekend before the start of their institution's term. Students who move to their termtime address must stay there for the whole term

The government has said that students can return to their student accommodation as long as they do so before 29th April.
Universities who are refusing people access to their legally rented accommodation are breaking the law (landlords are not allowed to do this). But there's little you can actually do about it.

Here is what the coronavirus legislation says:

Exception 14: students and vacation households
(23) Exception 14 is that the gathering is reasonably necessary to enable a student who is undertaking a higher education course on 29th March 2021—

(a)to move on one occasion from their student household on or after that date but before 29th April 2021 to one other household (“vacation household”) for the purposes of a vacation, or

(b)to return to their term time accommodation after the vacation or any earlier vacation during which the student returned home as permitted under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/364/schedule/1/made

JellyBabies - When I read that, I hadn't appreciated " or any earlier vacation during which the student returned home as permitted under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020"

It looked at the time I read it as though it applied to students who had returned to their universities and were now being granted a short leave of absence to go home for a break before returning.

I'm going to ponder this for a little bit and do some more reading.

I know that international students are getting increasingly agitated - if they are going to be admitted from non red zone countries - they need to book tickets and sort out quarantine.

The problem is that universities are just deciding things for themselves because the government aren't being clear. It's a mess.

York uni have thousands of returned students quarantining at the moment (the ones who've returned to catered halls). My dd is as Newcastle - almost everyone was back before Easter, just no f2f teaching.

DD has been back since Feb (now home for Easter), most of her friends have done the same ... Brighton, Leeds, Birmingham, Glocs, Warwick

@incywincyspiders

They have been back for weeks (I work on a university campus)

Depends on the course and the university.

I'm an academic and I haven't set foot on campus since the end of November. My building is locked up and I've been told I'm not allowed on campus.