Thank goodness for that! I'll tell the Finance Director that someone unqualified and ignorant of the facts says that we don't need £9250 per student to run courses, provide IT and Library services, heat light clean and maintain buildings, supply consumables and capital equipment, deliver counselling and other support for students, and the dozens of other functions we have. The FD will be so relieved....
In my case - library and IT is deemed unsafe in term 1, building access will be strictly prohibited to anyone who has a proper reason to be there (basically nobody in term 1 bar the research department) and most equipment is out of use (I go to a music school, and almost all instruments and practice rooms are going to be locked and not allowed for student use in term one), so I don't think it's justified at my uni.
It really is absurd, and completely unworkable in many cases. Take engineering, for example. I'm sure someone in Whitehall thinks it's simple to keep mechanical, electrical, civil etc engineers apart. But it's not. Yes, there are specialised lectures, tutorials and labs for each. But there are plenty of shared lectures. I well remember 500 seat lecture theatres filled to capacity for engineering mathematics, analogue electronics and various other modules that all engineers took.
Coronavirus: University students could be 'amplifiers' for spreading COVID-19 around UK - SAGE
The report said students moving back home at the end of term are more of a concern than those returning to university.news.sky.com
Honestly. That whole plan is ludicrous. If they think that's going to work then I wish them luck spending days and weeks trying to figure it out. As you say it is not possible. There are far too many subjects, too many students and not enough space - and that goes for most universities. Not to mention the concept of actually having friends outside your subject. And even then, universities will be surprised that there are less students starting in September, thinking "but we've made it as safe as possible??"
52 years since I left university but surely many new students will try to take a year out (if they can get a job) and reapply for September 2021. I don't know if this is possible for those in the middle of a course. Going to university is about much more than studying, as several of you much younger than me have pointed out!
To be fair that might be the average time books were sitting about on trolleys waiting to be re-shelved last year anyway. If I had Covid as a handy scapegoat for my long term issues I reckon I'd jump at the chance.
It's a technical challenge, but I'd question the academic rigour tbh
This is not at all unusual.
Completely agree. This is totally unnecessary and illogical. Especially the "only one use per day" for the desk - if it's that hard (which it isn't, my uni has a lot of staff), why not offer three sessions throughout the day, morning/early afternoon/late afternoon.
Unclear what you want us to conclude about Notre Dame - they've had a bit of an outbreak with no obvious massive ill-effects, and in response have taken action, rather than panicking ahead of time and taking actions that they didn't need to. Most of the groups you mention are at a mildly elevated risk at worst. Making everybody shield to protect the small number of people who might be at geniune risk isn't a viable isn't a sane course of action. Asking people to miss out on a hugely valuable part of their lives for very little reason and then screaming "it's not all about you" at them doesn't strike me as likely to convince them tbh.
