St Andrews postpone in-person teaching because too many students will return

St Andrews have postponed in-person teaching, because too many students will be returning to campus.

In an email from the Principal yesterday, students were told all classes would be online at least until week three.

This is because “new evidence” has shown “a larger number of students” are returning to St Andrews than was “expected” by the university.

The “phased return to in-person teaching” is going to prioritise smaller classes and means some students will have to take all of their classes online for the first half of this semester.

Some classes may not return to in-person teaching until week seven. The email said: “In-person teaching in the first two weeks of semester will now be limited to laboratory-based classes, classes in Medicine and some classes based on practical experiential learning.”

The Principal said the reason for this change in policy was because “it has become apparent in the past few days that the number of students who will arrive to study with us in St Andrews is likely to be greater than anyone had forecast”.

The email said more students than the university were expecting will be in St Andrews in semester one. “Early modelling” suggested “only 7000 would return or enroll”, but now they estimate “up to 9000 undergraduates and postgraduates plan to be in St Andrews during this first semester.”

This is due “partly because the late changes to the way A Level and Higher exam results were calculated have obliged us to admit significantly more entrants than would otherwise have been the case.”

Students who returned to St Andrews with the expectation of in-person teaching have not welcomed this policy change.

A St Andrews student said: “It’s so annoying that it’s happened this way. Its frustrating, I don’t feel like I’m going to get the same level of teaching I usually do when I’m seeing my tutors face-to-face”.

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