This academic year is not what we signed up for. At the start of the year, UCL made a commitment to uphold academic standards through a combination of online and face-to-face teaching. Measures were put in place to achieve this, however, since the start of the academic year, the pandemic in the UK has only worsened.
London was in lockdown from the start of November, all teaching was moved online from the start of December, and then in January, a new national lockdown was introduced and we were advised not to return to campus. This lockdown is expected to be eased from 8 March, however, UCL have now confirmed that there will be no face-to-face education for the duration of term two.
This is not what UCL expected to happen, it’s not what you expected to happen, and it’s no longer the kind of education you agreed to pay for at the start of this year.
When we talk about education, we talk about the holistic educational experience of being with your peers, meeting new people, trying new things, joining clubs, forming communities, socialising, and experiencing the environment of UCL, and of London. Despite enormous effort, this can’t be replicated online.
The Government has intervened to provide financial support for parts of the UK that have suffered significantly from the impact of Coronavirus, but why not students? We’ve paid full fees for an almost fully online experience – and it’s not good enough.
The Government should recognise the need to have a national policy on tuition fee refunds and provide funding to enable universities to deliver these refunds. Let’s make it happen.