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UCU calls on University of Nottingham to move all non-essential activity online

5 November 2020

UCU members at the University of Nottingham have called on the vice-chancellor Professor Shearer West to move all non-essential activity online.

The call comes on the first day of a four week lockdown across England and as the university confirmed that in-person teaching would continue.  This week UCU and NUS jointly called for a move to online activity on campus.

The Covid-19 infection rate in Nottingham remains high, and while the number of infected students on campus has gone down, infection rates in communities outside campus, where many staff and students live, remain high. The union says that asking students and staff to travel to campus, often using public transport, and have social interactions on campus, at this height of infection puts people's health at risk.

Agnes Flues, UCU branch vice-president said: 'We are calling on the University of Nottingham to reconsider its decision to continue with in-person teaching urgently, in order to protect the health of students, staff and the wider Nottingham community. Vice-chancellor Professor Shearer West should use her autonomy and move all non-essential teaching and other activity online as soon as possible'.

UCU has collated over 35,000 cases of Covid-19 on campuses across the UK. It has also launched a legal challenge to the government's decision to ignore advice from its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to move learning at universities online.  

Last updated: 9 November 2020