University students may have to spend Christmas on campus

STUDENTS could be forced to spend Christmas on campus, a university chief warned as she said there were “no promises” that they could return home.

Prof Julia Buckingham, the president of Universities UK, told Today on BBC Radio 4 there was “obviously a public health risk” in 2 million students travelling home at the end of term.

Asked what would happen about getting students home for Christmas, she said: “I think it is very difficult to make any promises at this stage.

“I think we have to wait and see what happens after four weeks, how the rules change and then we take it from there.”

The Sage advisory group warned back in September that there was a “critical risk” that students would fuel a national surge of Covid-19 cases when they return home at the end of term.

It predicted that large campus outbreaks “could peak towards the end of the term” and the mass movement of students could pose a “significant risk to extended families and communities”.

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, previously promised that students would be able to spend Christmas with their families, suggesting they may need to self-isolate before going home.

The Department for Education is due to publish guidance on how students can go safely home for the holidays.

Jo Grady, the University and College Union general secretary, has accused ministers of putting the country’s health and safety at risk through their “insistence that universities must continue with in-person teaching”. She called for all non-essential teaching to move online during the lockdown.