With a new term already under way in many universities, the higher education sector has never felt more beleaguered – and most of the blame for its current state of disarray lies with the government.
In the past few weeks the Department for Education has amassed a staggering charge sheet: the exam results fiasco; trying to force campuses to open more widely without a test and trace system in place; threatening to lock university students down in unfamiliar surroundings; and the bizarre suggestion that teaching outside in the winter months might combat Covid.
Instead of using the summer to develop a nationally coordinated test and trace system, the government has been too distracted by its own spectacular failings to plan ahead. Government actions have exacerbated the public health crisis and fostered conditions for the virus to spread. Even where there are local lockdowns, universities have still been pushed to continue with in-person learning.
A poll for the University and College Union (UCU) in the Observer today suggests that the public has read the science and recognises that now is the time to make online learning the default position. The poll shows that 57% of people in English universities towns and cities fear that the mass movement of students will result in a lockdown on their doorstep, and that just 35% of people agree with the government that in-person learning should continue as far as possible.
Despite the government’s attempts to blame anyone but themselves for the crisis, large swathes of the public are not being fooled. Our polling showed more than twice as many people will blame government for any local lockdown arising from the return to campus as will blame students.
The academic calendar is hardly a mystery, but term is now under way and has left students and staff feeling abandoned. Staff who work in education are used to having our expertise ignored, but the government is continuing to ignore the data and science of its own Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) and experts on its unofficial counterpart, Independent Sage, who all agree a move to online learning now would mitigate against the spread of the virus.
The government can’t just tinker at the edges; it can and must act now before the spread is out of control.
While the government has a lot to answer for, vice-chancellors have a duty of care and a responsibility for safety too. Most are pretending institutions are safe and selling students the lie that they can have a full university experience in the current crisis.
We set out our five tests for safely returning to in-person work months ago and last month called for online learning to be universities’ default position – some employers have done their best to make campuses safe, but most of what we have seen is hygiene theatre.
With the Department for Education refusing to release data on outbreaks in schools, UCU has put the government and universities on notice that we will be monitoring outbreaks in colleges and universities. And we will name and shame institutions that aren’t exercising due caution.
Our main objective is to pressure the government to help us avert a preventable public health crisis. But if our members are concerned with how their institution is behaving, we will back them if they vote to move into dispute and ultimately ballot for industrial action.
Ministers and too many universities are on the wrong side of an overwhelming consensus about the public health risks we are facing. It’s time for them to step up to the plate and put their students, staff and local communities first. This can’t be business as usual.
