University unions issue list of demands to fix campus Covid crisis

Groups representing university staff and students have jointly issued a list of demands to the government as part of a push to improve the handling of Covid outbreaks that have hit many university campuses since the start of term.

The National Union of Students (NUS) and the University and College Union (UCU), which represent students and lecturers respectively, have put forward six demands in a statement issued today. They call on the government to:

• “Urgently coordinate a national test and trace system for universities on campus;
• “Enable a safe way for students to leave campus if they need or want to;
• “Ensure no financial detriment to any student giving up accommodation places or choosing to defer or leave university;
• “Move to online learning wherever possible;
• “Guarantee for universities to help them deal with any shortfall or additional expenses due to Covid;
• “Ensure students are not subject to more severe restrictions than the rest of the population.”

A spokesperson for Labour leader Keir Starmer declined to back tuition fee or rent refund requests by university students on Wednesday. The party has not yet commented on whether it supports the new NUS and UCU list of demands.

Commenting on the joint statement, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Ministers need to act now and tell universities to halt in-person teaching where possible and move the majority of work online, in line with other workplaces…

“If the government had followed our advice and made that clear financial commitment, universities could have spent the summer studying the science, working on a consensus about when to restart and, crucially, prepare properly for this term.”

Stressing the need for urgent action, Grady concluded: “Ministers got it wrong at the start of this crisis. They need to act quickly now and not get it wrong a second time.”

Gavin Williamson announced measures to ensure students would be able to go home at Christmas in a Commons statement earlier this week, days after several government ministers said they may need to isolate on campus over the holidays.

The Education Secretary offered no extra testing support for universities and committed to keep face-to-face teaching. Labour in response called Williamson “incompetent” and told him to “get a grip” of the Covid outbreaks on campuses.

Reacting to Williamson’s parliamentary statement, his first public comments on universities in weeks, the UCU said earlier this week that he was “clearly wrong” to say higher education was well-prepared to cope with Covid.

On the new list of six demands, NUS president Larissa Kennedy said: “It is wholly unforgivable that students continue to be punished for the government’s failure to keep students, staff and communities safe.

“Our education system is broken – time and again it prioritises profit over people. Over the past few months, students have repeatedly been encouraged to move, ensuring that universities and accommodation companies could collect tuition fees and rent whilst leaving thousands of students trapped in halls.”

The NUS president concluded: “The ongoing uncertainty students face is exacerbating poor mental health, debt and needlessly puts lives at risk. Put simply – students deserve better.”

Epidemiologist Professor Mark Woolhouse, who serves on the Scottish government’s Covid-19 advisory committee, said on Sunday that the current Covid outbreaks at universities had been “entirely predictable”.

The latest UCU and NUS intervention follows reports that thousands of students have been banned from leaving their flats, in some cases with private security stationed outside their accommodation and with some running out of essential items.