Why on earth were they encouraged onto campus?
They don’t all need to be there, insists health expert
‘Things could have been managed better’
SCOTLAND’S universities should not have opened their doors to all students amid the pandemic, a public health expert has said.
Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, spoke out amid the growing controversy over students being locked down in their halls of residence.
She said many students need face-to-face instruction and others would not be able to study properly at home, which means it would simply not be ‘feasible’ for them to stay away from campuses.
It comes as Scotland recorded its highest number of positive Covid-19 cases in a single day, many of which are linked to universities. Hundreds of students across Scotland are now self-isolating after outbreaks of the virus.
All students face disciplinary action if they break strict measures imposed on them by their universities, including bans on visiting pubs this weekend and restrictions on socialising.
Professor Bauld said: ‘As we continue to live with the virus it’s a balance of risk, like the schools reopening, and the question of whether they should reopen at all.
‘I think if we were going to do the whole thing with distance learning it wouldn’t be practical at all, and to delay it until after Christmas would be very damaging.
‘Not all students need to be at their universities, but some do, such as medical students who need to be in clinic and biological sciences students who need to be in the lab.’
She said there was also ‘a digital divide, with a lot of students in poor home living arrangements with not enough space or poor IT connections’ – and she said ‘universities do not have the capabilities to assist with that’.
Professor Bauld added: ‘Having some kind of teaching face-to-face with younger students is important because some may not be motivated enough on their own.’
On the question of ‘whether we have got it right’, she said: ‘Things could have been managed better.
‘There should have been a caseby-case review of which students needed to return, and testing was a big issue.
‘Some universities, like Oxford and Cambridge, have their own testing systems in place. But the fact we have not had more rapid testing in place is a missed opportunity. Parents and young people are distressed. This is a really awful situation.’
But she said ‘they will get through this’, predicting that Covid cases will reduce after the increase at the start of term.
Scotland yesterday recorded its highest number of Covid cases in a single day, with 558 positive tests – 9.5 per cent of those carried out.
Of these, 255 cases were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, with a further 119 in the Lothian area.
In both health board areas, the significant surge in cases is linked to universities. However, in NHS Lanarkshire there were an additional 61 positive tests.
Speaking at her daily briefing, Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘No one should be under the impression that the Covid threat right now is just a university problem and that there’s no need for the rest of us to take this seriously.’