‘I CAN WANDER AROUND MY COLLEGE AS A TOURIST BUT I CAN’T STUDY THERE’

ABIGAIL HOWE, 19, KENT

I have been at home for more than 130 days so far, unable to return to the university accommodation I signed a year-long contract for. But while tourists can this week legally wander around the grounds of Magdalen College, Oxford,

I, and my peers, are banned. I can book a local Airbnb and visit my college as a sightseer, but not use my rental bedroom. It’s beyond absurd.

The Government’s bizarre assessment of “practical” courses hasn’t helped, creating confusion and unfairness: first-year biology students will be able to return next term, while history finalists were told to “plan to write a thesis making use of material available online” when they complained about lack of library access. Fees, of course, have remained the same.

In the first lockdown, everyone was struggling together. But as the rest of the UK reopens, students – many of whom have lost family members, sacrificed opportunities or struggled with their mental health – are being left behind.