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Government advice branded ‘alarmingly vague’ and universities’ individual strategies come in for criticism
Plans to get students back to university for the next academic year are coming under increasing scrutiny as concerns mount over a potential major spike in coronavirus cases in the UK.
Minutes from meetings of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies in July express concern about the possibility that reopening universities could drive a surge in coronavirus cases as students move around the country.
As Research Professional News reported yesterday, Sage wants advice for further and higher education institutions to be issued “well before the next academic year”.
In papers published on 24 July, after those Sage meetings, the Department for Education asked for students to be given advice on moving between households “as soon as possible”, as students would shortly be finalising rental agreements. It also said that on-off lockdown restrictions could lead some institutions to delay the start of the academic year until January.
Former shadow further and higher education minister Gordon Marsden said this was all “alarmingly vague and tentative”. Universities, staff and student bodies “need clear guidelines from government to finesse their arrangements for the autumn and the new year”, he said.
Rachel Hewitt, director of policy and advocacy at the Higher Education Policy Institute, also voiced concerns. While it is “wise for the Department for Education to be exploring all options for how universities should operate in the autumn”, she said, leaving university students “in limbo” until January “would be the worst-case scenario for all involved”.
Much of the planning for a return to campuses has been left up to individual universities, and their plans are also under increasing scrutiny. The Independent Sage group, which was set up in response to concerns about a lack of transparency from the official science advisory group, has called for more consistency in universities’ strategies for bringing staff and students back to campuses.
Gabriel Scally, president of epidemiology and public health at the Royal Society of Medicine, told a meeting of the independent group on 31 July that physically returning to work “has to be a matter for the employer and the staff” and trade unions.
“I do hope that the universities as a whole across the country could come together and take some considered advice on this issue and come up with a policy rather than making it up themselves to suit their local circumstances. That seems to me to be the right thing to do,” he added.
Kamlesh Khunti, professor of primary care and diabetes at the University of Leicester, told the meeting that there were a “huge number of inconsistencies” in universities’ campus return plans. He warned that with a large influx of staff and students, “we could suddenly get a spike” in Covid-19 cases.