AIBU to ask you to support university returns?

[RosaDiazRocks]

I know I will probably get a lot of people telling me there's no point and I'm being naive, but please please sign this petition to ask the government to let us return to uni asap! Students have already missed out on so much and being left with no information is unfair and illogical for those of us on non-practical courses

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/582345?fbclid=IwAR1T0qJaSzwqrdsrrkii-8IdQ7RPtBsNVV8JcaHGDMaYQDWG_Ju-gD22Oas link to petition

I thought students had returned?

signed!

this Govt has completely disregarded students well being and education! I have 1 students who have paid £9k to sit in their bedrooms and still having to pay rent to private landlords .

Not all of them.

My son is back in halls but hasn't had any face to face learning yet.

@Eve

signed!

this Govt has completely disregarded students well being and education! I have 1 students who have paid £9k to sit in their bedrooms and still having to pay rent to private landlords .

Thanks so much! I agree, we have been ignored

@Singinginshower

I thought students had returned?

Only for "practical courses" - so some STEM and some of the music etc courses. There's over a million of us still without info

Both of mine went back in January. But I'm in the US.

My first year this year, even as a practical course they still didn't have us in from the 8th March. I've got exams beginning of next month and I've learned naff all.

I've got exams beginning of next month and I've learned naff all.

Why is this? While less than ideal, there is no reason your coursework (non practical elements) cannot be covered well online.

Why have you learnt 'naff all'? The learning is what you do. Whether your content is delivered f2f or online, it's still there, for you to learn.

(Of course, there are massive downsides to being online-only, eg lack of peer support, socialising, missing practical elements. But it's still possible to learn.)

There are practical STEM subjects that haven’t had my face to face all year. How do you develop the skills to be a scientist without setting foot in a lab for half of your degree?

Also I assume MNHQ have moved this into Petitions and Activism, so sorry for the AIBU thread title! I didn't know this topic existed oops

@tam23

There are practical STEM subjects that haven’t had my face to face all year. How do you develop the skills to be a scientist without setting foot in a lab for half of your degree?

How could it be half your degree?

That's of course not a good situation. I'm surprised to hear it's happened in your institution, as in mine labs were able to continue throughout (tho more limited).

Even if you've had no labs all this year, that's either 1/3 or 1/4 of your degree, not 1/2 and can be made up when a greater degree of normality returns next academic year.

Third year DD1 has had no labs this year, which was meant to be lab based for most of the year. They are now in their revision period before exams, so will have had a year with only two face to face tutorials all year. She has coped ok but is concerned about how they make up the lab hours (2 years to go).

First year DD2 is going back this week for her first ever labs. She was meant to be on a field trip this week.

It's not great, but in the case of my DDs, I do think the universities have been doing their best to some extent. In the case of DD1 particularly, many students are international, so not even able to be in the country.

It is quite possible for a student to have almost half of their degree without labs as lockdown happened in March 2020 so for second year students that would be almost 4 terms out of a potential 9 if they have none next term

@Stirmecrazy

I should probably have clarified I am in Ireland. Our academic years are semesterised - so two semesters per year. Degrees are either 3 or 4 years (usually 4 years for STEM disciplines).

A student who started in 2019 had all of semester 1 and part of semester 2 that academic year on campus. Here, almost all universities provided labs in 2020/21 too, but even if they missed all of those, they still will have labs in 2021/22. So it didn't seem clear to me how the 'half' was arrived at.

It sounds like terms are calculated differently in the UK. However it still won't be half - they definitely had an on campus experience in 2019, and will again in 2021 and 2022. So not half.

Sorry OP, I didn't spot your thread as I didn't know this category existed either.

@Hondajazzhands

Sorry OP, I didn't spot your thread as I didn't know this category existed either.

Dw I'm hoping to get it in active conversations as much as possible anyway

Earrings

Final year student. 9 terms in total. Five terms in labs and 4 and a bit terms not, as only exams left. So just under half - and £27k fees!

17th May - well that’s just great! Most Unis have completed teaching by then!

I know! Very poor from the government imo. It basically means no in person teaching until next academic year, which they know, and they also know that if they admitted that the press outcry would be much worse so they won't.

We got to 10k! Thank you so much to everyone that signed

Students have been totally overlooked by the government.

Signed -thanks so much OP for posting here

Signed