20 June 2025
by Will Jones
University students are calling for a "day of action" to highlight the disruption caused to their learning by months of heavy lockdown restrictions, which they say justifies a reduction in their fees.
by an Edinburgh University student "What's that you say? Tories on the beach? We're on it, Chief." I joined a couple of dozen fellow students at Edinburgh for a birthday party on a secluded beach outside the city last week on the same day that Sir Patrick Vallance announced what we were doing was harmless. “It’s difficult to see how things like large beach gatherings lead to spikes”, he told Parliament hours before we all took Ubers to Lothian’s pretty seashore. That was confirmed by Professor Mark Woolhouse: “There were no outbreaks linked to public beaches – There’s never been a COVID-19 outbreak linked to a beach, ever, anywhere in the world.” We pay attention to Prof Woolhouse because, in addition to being SAGE's SPI-M committee on pandemics, he’s a top Edinburgh University epidemiologist. Unfortunately, Police Scotland was not following the science, as I will shortly reveal. Since arriving at university last Autumn, I’ve witnessed how parties halls of residence are invariably raided by campus security or police officers. Usually, it’s fellow students objecting to the sounds of revelry and loud music who then dob us in to the authorities. Aside from that, students have endured periods in quarantine when they or someone on their floor tests positive. When that happens, you're banned from leaving your rooms and fed packed ...
Students at several UK universities have accused the police of invading their privacy when checking for lockdown breaches. Some suggest that universities have aided this harassment, granting officers access to halls.
Students at Manchester University have passed a vote of no confidence in its Vice-Chancellor amid criticism of the institution's handling of Covid – including the erection of six-foot-high security fences around halls.
A report by the ONS has found that unemployment for recent university graduates reached 12% in the third quarter of last year, following months of Government-imposed lockdowns.