University of Birmingham going in person: 35 positive tests amongst staff, 21 amongst students, *over the post-Xmas holiday period.* intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/coronavi… #UnicovidUK

Kings College London going face to face; haven't reported case numbers since 13th Dec. kcl.ac.uk/coronavirus/ca… #UnicovidUK #KCL

Durham online for the first week:

Another way of putting it: circa 1 person in 17 has covid.

The University of Southampton is attempting to force hundreds of students into exam halls again this January, during the Omicron wave, with no protections for self-isolating students beyond "submit special considerations and we might allow you to resit in summer". Please RT 🧵:

This policy from University of Southampton puts students and staff in danger, and endangers the local community as a consequence. It ignores a vote of SUSU in which 95% of students who voted - almost 7,000 people - voted against in-person exams. susu.org/whats-on/updat…

🤔 "While we of course are not through the pandemic yet, a number of scientists are predicting that it is entering an ‘endemic’ stage which will enable the world to adjust gradually to living with this virus as with many other diseases." -VC Uni Nottingham nottingham.ac.uk/about/vice-cha…

"Living with the virus." The Nottingham unis handled the crisis very badly in 2020, & Nottingham was a major covid hotspot. unicovid.uk/universities/e… Currently there are currently 195 active cases - 74 cases among students and 121 cases among staff. nottingham.ac.uk/coronavirus/co…

Covid: University of Southampton rejects students' online exams call bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

Attend exams, even if they are exhibiting Covid symptoms."" University of Southampton in legal peril here. #UnicovidUK

This is so horrendously cruel, and it's not the only instance. Universities are retraumatising folk over & over. PandemicPGRs told UK Research and Innovation a year ago they needed to do better on bereavement. Their response is in the next tweet. We think you'll agree it's not good enough.

👀Orwellian red-underlined command from the govt's latest HE guidance👇. Even if this is assessed as too risky, based on best evidence & analysis, we must pretend that everything is now as it was before the pandemic. Ignorance is strength. (UCU) assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…