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The students have asked the university minister to provide emergency financial support to cover fees and rent after she announced that most of them should not return until at least the end of January.
Michelle Donelan also told international students preparing to travel from abroad that they should “consider whether they really need to travel to the UK at this time”.
Donelan cited the spread of a new variant of Covid-19 and the extension of stricter Level 4 restrictions in parts of England as reasons why the government had to consider additional measures to reduce transmission in educational settings.
However, Wednesday night’s announcement left students scrambling to make plans, with some directly challenging Donelan. on social media to help them with costs, including rental of accommodation that will not be used and fees for the course that will not be delivered as planned.
“I’ll be frank, the students want to help, but without the government helping them with this effort, and in order for it to be profitable for them, the plan will fail,” Joshua Connor, a student of international relations and politics at Lincoln University, wrote in a letter to Donelan.
Giving an example of the financial burden he and others faced, Connor told him that he would have to pay £ 2,100 to the university for the spring semester in addition to having missed several weeks of accommodation due to traveling home for Christmas during a designated period by government. “Student travel window.” From December 5 to January 25, you would have paid £ 1,057 for accommodation that you have not been able to use.
Like others, he was considering whether or not to travel to use the accommodation he rented.
More guidance from the government is expected next week. University authorities have been writing to students in the last 48 hours to inform them of the announcement from the Department of Education.
Cambridge University Vice Chancellor Stephen Toope said in an email to students that the delay was “potentially disruptive and difficult for students.” Newcastle University Academic Registrar Lucy Backhurst told students: “We appreciate that these last minute changes will bring their own challenges for many of you.”
Support would include January rent refunds for students living in university-owned housing arrangements, managed by the university and associates.
Universities UK, which represents the sector, said that Donelan’s announcement would “understandably raise further issues and uncertainty – for students, universities and staff – that will need to be addressed by the government in the coming weeks, including the need for financial support, flexibility and evaluation changes ”.
The government said it was asking universities to restrict the number of returning practical students as of January 4 to those who read subjects in areas such as medicine, dentistry and related subjects, social work and courses that require professional evaluations by January and that cannot be rescheduled. Other students with “compelling reasons to return” were also identified.
In a separate letter to students, Donelan said her department had worked with the Office for Students to remind education providers that they could use existing funds for hardship support.
He added that the government was making available up to an additional £ 20 million on an exceptional basis to help those most in need.
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