Oxbridge students’ fury at ban while tourists let in
Thousands sign petition demanding return to university as fee-paying visitors explore grounds
OXBRIDGE colleges are now open to tourists but not students, undergraduates have complained and say it feels like a “slap in the face”.
Magdalen College, Oxford and King’s College, Cambridge are among the institutions which are now encouraging the public to visit their grounds while students remain banned from returning.
Earlier this week it emerged one million university students will not be allowed to return for another month.
Around half of the UK’S students will continue to be banned from taking up residence at their term-time accommodation and resuming face-to-face lectures until May 17 at the earliest.
Students have pointed out that while they are barred from returning, feepaying tourists are being welcomed.
Magdalen College has been encouraging visitors to explore its grounds – which include a deer park – for a discounted price of £6 for adults and £5 for children. On its Facebook page, the college says: “We can’t wait to see you all again!” adding that the first 20 visitors get a free Magdalen calendar.
King’s College, Cambridge, is charging £5 for timed slots for members of the public to visit its grounds. “Between April 13 and May 15 you are welcome to walk around parts of the grounds to see the wild flower meadow and the Xu Zhimo garden. The wild flower meadow will be in the early stages of its second year of bloom,” the college says.
Abigail Howe, a second year English Literature student at Magdalen College, said it “feels like a slap in the face”.
She told The Daily Telegraph: “The roadmap has been done in such a way that university students’ return has been prioritised below people having a walk in the college grounds.”
Medical students and those training to be teachers and social workers were allowed to return at the start of term in January, and students taking practical or creative arts courses on March 8.
But humanities and social sciences undergraduates – which make up roughly half of all students – had been told to stay at home until further notice.
The Government had promised to review this at Easter, but vice-chancellors were furious that there was no announcement about it last week.
In a written ministerial statement on Tuesday, Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, said all remaining students will be able to return to campus no earlier than May 17.
Vice-chancellors were “blindsided” by this, one university source told The Telegraph, adding: “We are livid. Last term it was becoming increasingly clear that ministers trusted us to get on with it sensibly. Then suddenly we had it all thrown back at us as if somehow we have made a hash of it and now have to be put in the naughty corner.”
Thousands of students have signed a petition urging ministers to allow them to return at the start of summer term.
A spokesman for Magdalen College said it has “every sympathy with the position of students who want to be here” adding they will “consider sympathetically their requests to return”. He added students on practical courses, in need of study facilities or with welfare needs are allowed to return.
King’s College declined to comment.
‘The roadmap has been done in such a way that university students’ return has been prioritised below people having a walk in the college grounds’