University of York students told ‘we will support you’ by Vice-Chancellor

In an email addressed to students of the University of York, Charlie Jeffery, York’s Vice-Chancellor, outlined recent concerns regarding students returning home over the Christmas break.

The university’s main aim, as said by Jeffery, is “to support any student who wishes to spend the Christmas break elsewhere to do so safely, as well as look after those who may wish to remain in York or stay with us on campus.”

In the email, the new “student travel window” was explained. It is stated that as national lockdown is set to end on December 2nd, the government have given students until the 9th December to travel home to spend Christmas with their families.

The university has outlined a plan to reduce numbers of people on campus during the “student travel window”. As term finishes on December 4th, the university will attempt to arrange a booking system for students living on campus to be collected by a family member or member of their household bubble, similar to the system that they had in place for arrivals.

As for Spring term, Jeffery said that due to the government announcement confirming that they wish to make students’ return to higher education in January as a safe as possible, the University of York’s Spring term will commence on Monday 11th January 2021. Students should expect to receive more information regarding their return to York and what to expect in January over the Christmas break.

In another part of the email, Jeffery also said that the University of York have requested that the government include them in their scheme to roll out voluntary, rapid turnaround, mass testing to students by the end of the term.

Jeffery said that the university see their request as an “important step in ensuring our students have better access to tests” to help protect the friends and family of those wishing to return home over the Christmas break as well as helping to manage the risk of virus transmission going into the Spring term, allowing the university to re-introduce more in-person activity on campus.

Some key points outlined in the email regarding mass COVID-19 testing include the fact that it is completely voluntary, it will, however, help you to make an informed decision and the university will support you.

Jeffery ended the email by ensuring that student support will be available for students both on and off-campus with information available on ways in which students can seek support from the university over the Christmas break.

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