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Students Advised to Avoid Travelling to Campus for Spring Term

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Liverpool Hope University has advised students not to return to campus for the Spring term following the announcement of new Covid-19 restrictions.   

Instead students should remain where they are and refrain from travelling, with all teaching taking place online throughout the period of lockdown. 

Dr Penny Haughan, Hope’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Student Life and Learning, says students who have not yet returned to halls of residence should not travel to the campus or halls of residence unless their ‘personal safety or capacity to study is compromised by remaining where they are currently located’. 

In these instances, students must inform the University before travelling.

Dr Haughan says: “The Prime Minister has made it clear that everyone should stay at home and only essential travel is allowed. This means that you should stay where you are currently located. 

“All Hope teaching will be online throughout the period of the lockdown, so there is no need for you to travel to Liverpool if you are currently elsewhere in the UK or are overseas.

“It is the University’s intention to start to reintroduce face to face teaching when it is safe to do so. We will only do this when the infection rate and the R number indicate that this is thb case.”

Dr Haughan stresses that the University is ‘fully operational’, with online teaching commencing in earnest and resources such as the services of the student support teams and the library available. 

Students with a place in the halls of residence, but who spend the lockdown period away from their accommodation, will also be entitled to a rent holiday of eight weeks. 

Meanwhile rent-free extension periods are also available for certain students. 

Dr Haughan explains “This means that if you are not in halls over the lockdown period, your overall invoice for rent for the year will be reduced by the equivalent of 8 weeks of residence costs.

“In the late spring after this lockdown, some students may need to stay on in their accommodation to finish research projects and other examination requirements such as design and art projects, or placement requirements. 

“If you extend your use of your accommodation beyond the end date of your contract to finish your remaining studies, there will be no further charge.”

It’s the University’s intention that students will be able to return to their halls of residence when the current period of lockdown is over and teaching is able to be moved from its current format - with accommodation reserved for those with places. 

Any students who already find themselves in the halls of residence and need to stay on campus will need to follow strict lockdown arrangements in line with the Government requirements for the whole population. 

This will include a requirement for taking part in regular testing which will be available on campus where possible. 

Students currently in a quarantine or isolation period should continue to follow guidance from the Covid or Residential Life team. 

Pastoral care for students remains in place - and also remains a key priority for all the University. 

Dr Haughan adds: “I would urge you all to take particular care for the health and safety of yourself and others around you.”

To access or find out more about student support services, head here: https://www-hope-ac-uk.ezproxy.hope.ac.uk/lifeathope/studentsupport/

 


Published on 05/01/2021