Supporting students and getting them home for Christmas

For students, staff and the University as a whole, adapting to the restrictions from Coronavirus has taken a huge effort and has been an achievement for everyone involved.

3 students socialising in the edge bar with face coverings

Students have had to change how they live and learn in Sheffield. Staff have had to ensure we can teach and support students safely. These changes have evolved since March, and the latest initiatives are ensuring those students who want to travel home for the festive break can.

Getting students home

For students travelling home for the Christmas holidays, the Government introduced a special travel window. This was to spread the load on transport networks away from the rest of the public who will be traveling later in the month, and to allow windows for self isolation before reuniting with family members.

To help minimise the spread of the virus between communities, and to reassure students and families, the University established its own testing centre within the Octagon. Using lateral flow testing kits, students who did not have COVID-19 symptoms could book a quick response test to confirm they were not carrying the virus before travelling home (or giving them time to isolate before travelling). This builds on the University’s in-house contact tracing system which has been helping to limit the spread of the virus amongst our University community.

How to get a Covid-19 test at our testing centre in the Octagon

As the majority of students in University accommodation will not be residing there for the last few weeks of their contract this year, the University has also applied an automatic rent reduction to all qualifying students.

However, not all students will be travelling home - some through personal choice and some (particularly international students) due to travel restrictions. There are also some students for whom campus is their home, having come from a care background or being estranged from their families. For these students, specific support is in place across the holiday period, with library, health and online support services staying open across the break. For students staying in University residencies, a series of daily activities will also be available throughout the Christmas break.

Support during term

Throughout the autumn term, students have faced numerous challenges and we have been doing all we can to support them through it. 

The impact on student wellbeing has been significant. Many students have faced financial hardship, primarily through a loss of earnings from jobs they had planned would pay for their living costs through their studies. The retail and hospitality sectors are two key employers of students and these sectors have been hit especially hard by the pandemic. 

To help students with this financial loss, the University expanded its Student Hardship Fund, which is funded in part by generous donations from alumni and supporters. Most recently it has also established a specific COVID-19 Student Support Fund. Grants are available to support all students with unanticipated costs such as those incurred for private COVID-19 tests required for travel, increased living or utility costs, or as a result of rearranged travel costs.

Hear from current student Ines about her experience of self-isolation after arriving in the UK from Portugal.

However, we also know that being away from friends and family, studying remotely, and coping with the stress and anxiety of a global pandemic has put tremendous strain on students’ mental health. Usually run face-to-face, the Student Access to Mental Health Service (SAMHS) and the University Counselling Service have transitioned their services to telephone and online support, and have expanded their capacity to help more students than ever before. 

Students who are required to self isolate can also take up expanded support, through daily check-in phone calls from the accommodation teams, food deliveries and laundry services, and enhanced academic support so no one will be disadvantaged for having to self-isolate.

Studying in Sheffield

Studying and the delivery of lectures during the autumn term may have looked and felt very different this year, but the quality of teaching and dedication of our academics has been as high as ever. Teaching has been split with the majority of teaching taking place digitally, with limited in-person teaching - something students strongly valued. 

Third year journalism student Alice vlogs her online video editing workshop and gives her thoughts on online teaching and learning

This change in teaching meant lecturers and support teams had to work hard to translate and adapt course plans to meet this new way of learning in a very short space of time. Lectures were able to carry on in a similar format, with conversations and questions through text or voice chat. Other online tools allowed for quizzes on the learning material, and recordings and automatic transcriptions aided students in looking back on their classes.

Where students were coming on to campus for small group seminars or lab practicals, many adaptations have been put in place. One-way systems were installed by the estates team and classes were moved into larger rooms where possible, with increased space between students and academic staff. Cleaning staff were also on hand to conduct increased cleaning throughout the day across study rooms and other facilities, together with sanitation stations at the entrances to all buildings.

Dentistry student Raina talks about her experience of face-to-face teaching at her clinical skills workshop and the safety measures that we've put in place to keep our staff, students and community safe.

In order to allow students to access campus for their studies, it has been important to limit the number of people on campus at any one time. Therefore the vast majority of staff remain working from home, to allow those who need to be on campus to be there.

In light of the continually changing circumstances, the University will remain vigilant to the local Coronavirus situation and will continue to follow Government advice on teaching. It is likely many of these measures may have to remain in place for at least some of the next semester. However, the University will continue to adapt to the latest developments, ensuring that student well-being and high quality teaching remain at our core, while providing safe working and learning environments for students and staff.