Update on face to face teaching: Ensuring our community’s safety

Dear Students,

I wrote to you in September to confirm that, as part of our plans to maximise the safety of our community, we would be undertaking a phased return to face-to-face teaching during the Autumn Term 2020. All our students were put into one of three phases, with those of you in Phases 2 and 3 accessing your teaching exclusively online for the initial period of the Autumn Term. Those of you in Phase 1 are undertaking blended learning – a combination of online and face-to-face teaching – unless you have indicated that you need to access your learning remotely, in which case you are accessing teaching online.

On 23 October, we reviewed our plans for Phase 2 face-to-face teaching from 2 November 2020. The factors we considered were: the move of the Essex County Council region to Tier 2 (high alert level) on 17 October (noting Southend remains in Tier 1); infection rates in the region; in the local communities in which our campuses are located and amongst University staff and students; behaviour on our campuses and in accommodation; the learning needs of our students and a range of other factors. The latest data on infection levels on our campuses is published on our . The evidence suggests that, notwithstanding the move to Tier 2, our campuses are COVID-secure environments.

We have decided to postpone the return to face-to-face teaching for those students in Phase 2 (planned to return to face-to-face-teaching on 2 November 2020). We will review this again on 6 November 2020 and if a decision is taken to proceed to Phase 2, those students would return to face-to-face teaching where it is scheduled from 16 November. We will communicate the outcome of the 6 November review to you on 9 November.

In a limited number of cases, we are reviewing a return to face-to-face teaching from 9 November for students whose programmes include professional, statutory and regulatory body requirements to have face-to-face teaching or specific laboratory classes. We are also reviewing the case for a return to face-to face teaching for postgraduate taught programmes from 9 November. Your Department or School will notify you on 27 October 2020 if this affects your programme.

Please be assured that we are also considering the impact on Phase 3 students and will provide more information after 6 November review point. If we are able to introduce some face-to-face teaching from 16 November for students in Phase 2, I can confirm now that consideration of Phase 3 will be deferred until 8 December as part of our planning for the Spring term 2021.

What does this mean for you and your teaching?

For most of you, this means that you will continue to access your teaching in the way you have since the start of term. For those who are not currently accessing face-to-face teaching, I want to emphasise that you are still able to come on to the campuses and access all the available facilities, such library facilities and study spaces. Our campuses continue to remain open, as they have throughout the pandemic.

If your course is one of the limited number returning to face-to-face on 9 November, your Department or School will contact you on 27 October with more information. If you are struggling with remote learning, for whatever reason, please contact your Department to discuss options for increasing your access to face-to-face contact. We are here to support you.

All student teaching timetables will be updated on 1 November 2020 to reflect the outcome of the review. We phased the publication of timetables to make sure we could give you accurate information for each phase, which has meant that some of you have not yet received your full teaching timetable for this term. In order to provide clarity for you, your updated timetable, published on 1 November, will cover the rest of the Autumn term. Please be aware that this may be subject to change if a decision is made on 6 November to implement Phase 2. We will keep you informed.

If you need more information, your departmental timetable provides information for all modules and the times, days and weeks that associated teaching events are scheduled. You can use this timetable to see when teaching is scheduled while you are waiting for your personal timetable to be updated.

If you have any questions about your timetable, please read our frequently asked questions. Your Department or School can answer any questions or provide more information about your timetable or your course.

What does this decision mean for your accommodation?

Our accommodation policy is designed to be as flexible as possible. If you are living in University accommodation, you can stay in your accommodation and make use of our campus facilities. If you want to change your plans for taking up or continuing your campus accommodation, please email accarriv@essex.ac.uk for advice on the next steps.

We appreciate that many of you live off campus in shared houses or privately rented accommodation. Whilst the University cannot compel other landlords to adapt tenancy agreements, we are working with the SU and other providers of student accommodation, informing them of our flexible policy and urging them to be understanding and to support you as far as they can.

What does this update mean for our postgraduate research community?

My update covers access to face-to-face teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. Our Dean of Postgraduate Research Education, Professor Sanja Bahun, will be contacting our postgraduate research students separately to provide an update for you.

What does this mean for the Spring term 2021?

We will continue to keep our plans under review, and follow a phased approach to delivery of teaching, with your health and wellbeing as our first priority. We will continue to provide regular updates during this term and we will review our plans for face-to-face delivery in the Spring Term on 8 December. We will communicate the outcome of this review during the week of 14 December 2020.

Updates and other support

We will continue to publish information online through our dedicated COVID-19 webpages to support you as the answers become available. We are working with the Students’ Union to ensure the information we provide responds to the questions you have and the issues that are of most concern to you.

Our Student Services Hub for Colchester, Southend and Loughton are operating in-person, phone, email and live chat facilities and can provide information on our range of mental health and emotional support services. The Students’ Union Advice service is also available for you.

Finally, I wanted to remind you that, if you need to quarantine and/or self-isolate at any point during the academic year, we have developed a full programme to support you. Please remember to let us know by email to ensure appropriate support can be provided: covid19@essex.ac.uk.

I wish you continued success in your studies during this year.

Best wishes,

Richard Stock
Academic Registrar