What will Term 2 look like during the national lockdown?

With the UK in lockdown until the middle of February, here is how Term 2 has been affected and the policies that the University has implemented.

Teaching and Assessment

All teaching has been moved online where possible until the end of the lockdown. The only exceptions are for Social Work, MBChB and ITT students.

All assessments, for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, that are due in before 1 February have had their deadline extended by seven days.

The University is also in talks with the Students’ Union (SU) over further mitigating circumstances. Education Officer Megan Clarke has said that the SU are in “discussions with the University over implementing the safety net policy”.

Returning to Campus

Current University guidance states: “Where possible, you should remain at your home address and should not travel to access University facilities.”

There are four “exceptional circumstances” where students are permitted to return to their University accommodation.

These are: if you do not have access to appropriate study space at home; to return for health and safety reasons, including mental health; research students that need to access specialist facilities for their research and commuter students that need to use the library to access online learning.

Students are not allowed to make several journeys to their University accommodation and back again. This is only permitted once to collect medical equipment or items essential to attending online learning.

Facilities open on Campus

The library remains open, with revised hours of 8:30 to 0:00am seven days a week. Both the University House and Rootes Learning Grids have closed.

The Library Cafe, Gibbet Hill Cafe, NAIC Cafe and Pret a Manger have all remained open for takeaway only. Their opening times can be found here.

Rootes Grocery Store and the Pharmacy have also remained open.

The Sports and Wellness Hub and the Westwood Tennis Centre have both closed, and all memberships have been frozen until these facilities are open again.

All students who purchased a Club Pass for this academic year will also be given a £33 refund due to the lockdown disruption.

The University has updated its guidance on face coverings, advising the use of “higher quality face coverings”. Both disposable NHS standard masks and washable, three ply fabric masks are available at the University.

Students who will be using campus facilities have been encouraged to book a Covid test on campus, and are advised to use private transport where possible.

Rent Waivers

The University has also provided a rent waiver for all students with on-campus accommodation who have not returned for Term 2. The current waiver period is 9 January until “mid-February”.

This rent waiver does not cover off campus accommodation managed by Warwick Accommodation.

All campus rent payments have been delayed until 1 March.