Most uni students will stay away until middle of February
MEASURES put in place by the Government following the latest lockdown announcement mean most of Derby’s students will now not return to their campuses until mid-February at the earliest.
The third national lockdown was announced by the prime minister on Monday, January 4 and has pushed back returning to campuses for most students by around two weeks.
Students at the University of Derby who are not studying subjects linked to education or health and social care will now continue to learn remotely from their permanent homes “until at least mid-February”.
Those who are due to return to campus in the coming weeks have been asked to book Covid-19 tests upon arrival.
A spokesperson for the University of Derby said: “We are responding to the latest changes by following the government guidelines.
“In line with this, we have informed our students that they should remain where they are, be that at home or in university accommodation, unless they are on designated programmes where face-to-face study or practical placement work is permitted.
“Some university facilities, including the library, social study spaces and core student support services, will be open through this period and available to students, and rapid flow testing is available at our on-campus asymptomatic testing centre.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have stressed to our students the importance of following Government and university guidance. Failure to comply with Government and university guidance will be taken extremely seriously.
“We took a range of measures to reduce the risk of infection to staff and students before the start of the academic year, and the university has not yet had any major outbreak of Covid-19 cases.
“We will continue to follow the guidance issued by Government to ensure the on-going safety of students and staff who currently need to be on campus, on work placements or in our halls of residence.” A statement on the Government’s website reads: “Those students who are undertaking training and study for the following courses should return to face-to-face learning as planned and be tested twice, upon arrival or self-isolate for ten days:
■ Medicine and dentistry
■ Subjects allied to medicine/health
■ Veterinary science
■ Education (initial teacher training)
■ Social work “Students who do not study these courses should remain where they are wherever possible, and start their term online, as facilitated by their university until at least midFebruary. This includes students on other practical courses not on the list above.”
Failure to comply with Government and university guidance will be taken extremely seriously.
University of Derby