[Closed] Starting uni in Autumn 2020

I'd likely not start an MSc in September if we're still quarantined and it's online teaching, plus whatever charade of a virtual research project can be cobbled together.

In the wider picture there are obv many types of degree and reasons for taking them - if it was primarily a CV-building, I need-this-paper-qualification step then it might be OK. But that doesn't sound like it's the case - young person pre-career will want to see some real research, build the network, socialise and make friends etc etc. A quarantined MSc is a very inferior product in that context.

I know all major UK universities are making contingency plans for online provision of teaching in Sept - they have to as the loss of funding is catastrophic. How likely it will come to pass, though, I have no idea - does anyone?

@matt, I can't get a PM to work but drop me one, or an email at northwind@blackjack.f9.co.uk. I don't have much insider view but I can tell you a few things.

In case anyone else's in the same boat I think it's fair to say nobody has a ****ing clue what's going to happen in september. There's so much that should have already happened that can't, and we don't know what the world or UK situation will be. We will be ready to go with a normal term, and we'll be as ready as we can be with a not-normal term. Most UK universities already had some distance learning expertise, my lot has loads, and there's a lot of sharing going on.

But I've not seen any good answers for lab-taught courses, and there's no replacement for the personal contact stuff. Bigger brains than mine are working on it but not everything can be fixed.

I'd be pretty confident that even the shonkiest of UK universities will be busting their asses to look after their students. But I think there will be elements of "the show must go on" that will be counterproductive, and elements of "we can make it work" even for stuff that we can't, even in the most well intentioned unis and staff. And of course there will be lots of less well intentioned thinking about bums on seats and paying bills. I don't believe my uni will intentionally run with an approach that screws the kids, nor will most. I'm sure some will do so intentionally though, or talk themselves into believing they have no choice, and I'm sure some will do so despite trying their hardest not to, or without even believing they're doing so.

No matter what, even if everything is "normal" in september this will be a disrupted year with lots of distractions from teaching and study. It'll affect undergrads and foreign students most but that'll draw resource and time from everywhere.

Not booked accommodation yet. Not sure if we should.

That's a big one for us Kelvin.

It's time to be getting halls organised, with no guarantee of what the first year will be like. And you can bet your bottom dollar that there is no refund because of sh*t teaching and learning experience for your £6.5k hall cost...

Do you really mean MSc, or some sort of integrated masters? The former I’d be really wary of, the latter much less so.

Integrated - he does 5yrs straight through, degree then masters.

Northwind's pretty much said it all, I think. In my institution, we are hoping we'll be able to go as normal in September, but definitely not confident of that, and scratching around for Plans B, C and D, none of which is particularly convincing.

My experience over the last few weeks is that remote delivery of teaching is not nearly as satisfactory as face to face, and labs etc will obviously be very hard to do convincingly.

It is worth saying that this situation is putting the whole sector under huge financial pressure so there are very bumpy times ahead for everyone.

Plenty of time to catch up on labs then. Is the course accredited by a professional body, if so the uni will need to have plans in place to mitigate for lost lab time (I’m a chemistry lecturer, for what it’s worth).

Personally, I’d be asking the UG admissions staff in the department what their plans are for that eventuality. And be prepared to wait a while for the answer (this is new for everyone).

Sry I thought you were talking about a postgrad MSc, which are usually 1 yr long so are vulnerable to severe disruption. Starting a 5 yr undergrad degree is a different story and will likely be fine, although you are of course right to be concerned.

If it does go online then that will create engagement challenges - esp in year one where there's no peer group established for students to learn from one another. I'd guess a minority will be fine with it - may even be better for them, but it will not be helpful for the bulk of students.

Student summer holidays are long. Ours at Durham were something like 3 months? There's time to spend that money and go travelling then.

I doubt anyone knows whats going to happen at the start of the year. They'll keep taking money and progressing as normal until they are told not to. Bit like holiday companies if they react they'll lose income and go under.

Interested in what people know as I'm about to start the next round of mentoring for A level students and I bet this question will be common!

If I was going into first year in September I'd be more worried about freshers week being cancelled than the quality of teaching..

Seriously though, having recently graduated from a BEng, all of the units in first year are very much about creating a level playing field amongst the students. Much of the first semester in particular will be recapping basic principles and providing an introduction into the concepts that the remainder of the course will be centred on.

There will be very little that can't be delivered remotely if it comes to that. Anecdotally I actually broke a bunch of ribs while riding in my third year and didn't go to uni for 6 weeks. I achieved my best grades in that semester from the whole course by working remotely with no distractions.

If your son is confident in the relevant A-Level subjects (maths,physics and computer science?), he'll be fine.

I'm just finishing off a FT MSc myself but was fortunate to have completed all the taught component by January. I'm doing my dissertation currently which (again) is, fortunately, exclusively is on archival data that I already had as oppose to any research which needed interactions or surveys (like some student were doing). I hand this in mid-May.

The university put in a 'safety net' policy last week meaning students will finish the year with a final mark equal to or higher than they were averaging up to mid-march...so long as they pass remaining modules. This means I certainly finish with a distinction, although my dissertation should be a distinction on its own merits.

From what I saw regarding how distance learning works, the coronavirus shouldn't really have a significant effect.

Just from my own point of view, I was going to look for a PhD next year. I'm not very optimistic about that now because the universities are going to be financially hurting very badly going fwd. I may still try and do a PhD part-time and try and find work part-time.

Going back to the distance learning thing. I did another MSc when I was 22 and would have struggled at that age to work solo in a disciplined way. I was much more in need of peer-support and motivation. If you think you can work on your own then distance learning would be fine.

My eldest is back from Leeds and fairly posted of that her first year was really about 5 months.
Luckily it seems we don't have to pay next terms halls fees.

My youngest two are due to start in September and we're proceeding as usual until we get other info.
So halls booked and deposits paid I feel sorry for them but there's nothing we can do and there's a lot of people in the same boat.
I do wonder whether the first year students may not start until January.