UK Universities to Continue with Online Classes for the Autumn Semester

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With the mounting Covid-19 cases and a renewed threat from the Delta variant of the virus, the education system is likely to remain virtual for the upcoming months. Reportedly, many of the top universities in the UK have refused to return to full face-to-face classes in the autumn of 2021, despite government advice that they can lift all Covid-19 restrictions.

A Combined Mode of Teaching-Learning

According to reports, 20 of the leading 24 Russell Group universities said a proportion of undergraduate teaching will continue to be held online, which means they will offer blended learning to mix the online and face-to-face teaching for classes, seminars, and lectures.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of the 65 universities polled confirmed that most lectures would remain online for the coming academic year, but that they planned as much in-person teaching as possible. The wait is for the current situation to come under control. They said the decisions were driven by the risk of coronavirus spreading in large lecture classrooms, as well as the educational benefits of blended learning. Most universities said they would require students to wear masks on campuses. Some will also instruct students to socially distance. Students may also need to be double jabbed to attend concerts, discos, or other social events.

Petitions for Offline Classes

The decision has dismayed college students who coped with severe disruption last year. Students in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool have launched petitions calling for a full return to “normality in terms of teaching” and demanding fee refunds. In Manchester, where some of the strictest lockdowns took place, nearly 10,000 have signed.

Claire Marchant, Chief Executive of the universities admissions service UCAS, said that online teaching might mean that universities could enroll more students. It was predicted that top universities in Britain have to cope with a 10 per cent surge of applicants with A and A+ grades, compared to 2019, due to the cancellation of college entrance exams in the pandemic. Most Covid-19 restrictions in England have been lifted last month as part of the final step of the British government’s roadmap out of the lockdown. Yet the education sector faces quite a few uncertainties.