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By Sean Coughlan
BBC News Education and Family Correspondent
image copyrightReuters
Students will have staggered start dates to return to universities in England after Christmas, with some not returning until February 7.
The government’s plan will mean that students taking practical courses like medicine or performing arts will return from January 4-18.
Other subjects will be taught online at the beginning of the term, and students will return between January 25 and February 7.
Students are promised Covid tests when they return next quarter.
It means that some students who go home in the next few days will not be in college again for nine weeks.
The National Student Union said students would still have to pay rent for “properties that they are told not to live in.”
Practical courses
The plan, to avoid a surge of students and the risk of spreading the coronavirus, will see a staggered comeback for students over five weeks in the new year, with most courses starting online before returning to in-person teaching.
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Massive Student Testing Launches at Universities
- Two Covid tests for students and then out in 24 hours
- Tryouts for the Christmas holidays starting November 30
The first students to return will be for practical courses that are difficult to teach solely online, which will include medicine, nursing, and dentistry; sciences that need to use laboratories; or music, dance and theater.
image copyrightJoe giddensThose starting later will include subjects such as English literature, history, and mathematics.
Students will be offered two lateral flow Covid tests when they return, similar to the process for their departure.
“This plan will allow for a safer return for all students,” said Universities Minister Michelle Donelan, who also announced a £ 20 million fund for student difficulties.
The UCU teachers union, which has called for teaching to be online to prevent the spread of the infection, said the plan to delay the start of face-to-face teaching was a “step forward.”
Vanessa Wilson, leader of the University Alliance group, welcomed the “clarity” about the upcoming term and also the recognition that campus facilities should be kept open for students not coming home for Christmas.
Coaches and time slots for the exodus of students
Arrangements for the upcoming semester have been announced on the eve of students being able to return home for Christmas, with the student “travel window” opening on Thursday.
Louis Chambers, a freshman studying geology at the University of Hull, will be among the students returning home this week.
HI’s parents are coming to drive him back to Norfolk, and the university is running a system of one-hour slots for students to be picked up, which he says will mean “not that many will be leaving at once.”
“It will be a relief to go home,” he says, as he has only been able to see his family once this quarter, due to Covid restrictions.
But he believes Covid testing and the “travel window” have not been complicated so far, and he has enjoyed his first term.
And many students will have already gone to study from home. Of the six in Louis’s apartment, he says, three have already gone home.
image copyrightfake imagesThe director of student services at the University of Hull, Anji Gardiner, has been organizing the staggered outings through the Christmas “travel window.”
In addition to the time slots for those who are picked up by car, which operate from 07:00 to 20:00, there are wagons that are placed and a reservation system for the limited capacity of the trains, with traveling numbers spread throughout of the week.
“We want to keep it safe, we didn’t want a traffic jam of people trying to get home,” says Dr. Gardiner.
Massive testing before Christmas
Massive Covid testing of students began at universities on Monday, with temporary testing centers set up in sports halls and campus halls.
image copyrightJane barlowBefore leaving for Christmas, students have been encouraged to take two exams three days apart and to travel within 24 hours of receiving a second negative result.
The “travel window,” in which students are expected to drop out of college, will run from December 3-9.
In England, around 1.2 million students will travel from a university to a particular address in another part of the country, including:
- 235,000 leaving the southeast
- 217,000 leaving London
- 126,000 leaving East Midlands
- 122,000 leaving West Midlands
- 119,000 leaving the northwest
- 110,000 leaving the southwest
- 88,000 leaving the east
- 64,000 leaving the northeast
Universities UK welcomed plans to conduct more tests for students when they return after Christmas.
“The high demand for exams by students shows that they understand the important role that exams can play in keeping themselves and their communities safe,” said a spokesperson.
