Dear students
At this time, it is so important to stay in touch and I wanted to keep you updated as we start the new national lockdown. Over the last few months we have all had to cope with considerable change and I wanted to start by thanking you for your resilience and forbearance through this on-going pandemic. These are challenging times but I know you are working hard to keep the ethos of the caring Lincoln community strong.
I thought it would be helpful to remind you about the arrangements in place to support you in your studies over the next few weeks until the lockdown ends, both on and off campus, and how we will let you know about any changes we are required to make to the delivery of our programmes. After the lockdown the University will of course continue to support you and I would also like to take the opportunity to explain our current planning for Semester B from February 2021.
We have all experienced lockdown before but there are some key differences this time. For university students, the Government has been clear that we need to continue to provide face-to-face teaching where possible, and of course ensure on-campus support continues to remain open. Our campus has extensive Covid secure measures in place to keep us all safe and we would like to remind you about the importance of hands, face, space: washing your hands, wearing your face covering and maintaining social distancing.
University Support Services
As well as your tutors and school staff, please can I remind you of the following support that is available. During lockdown you can contact all of these services directly or through the Support Hub in the Minerva Building:
- Student Services and Student Wellbeing – assist with a wide range of non-academic queries, including mental health support – https://studentservices.lincoln.ac.uk/. Open from 8.30am to 5pm every weekday.
- Library services – the library remains open on campus from 8.30am-10pm weekdays and 9am-10pm at weekends. We have an extensive digital library – https://library.lincoln.ac.uk/ and teams are ready to help with academic queries.
- Careers & Employability – the Careers Centre (at the front of the Library) is open every weekday. See https://uolcareers.co.uk/ for details of online employer sessions, CV help and one-to-one appointments.
- ICT – for support with any IT issues – https://ict.lincoln.ac.uk/.
- Digital Student Life – a huge range of resources created by students for students here in Lincoln – https://studentlife.lincoln.ac.uk/.
- Residential Wardens (in University of Lincoln managed accommodation) – you can contact the Wardens team by email rw@lincoln.ac.uk or by phone: 07971 589 326.
- Security – for out-of-hours concerns phone: 01522 886062.
- Students’ Union – for online society activities and other support which is independent of the University – https://lincolnsu.com/
- Test and Trace and coronavirus information (including our Outbreak Plan) – https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/coronavirus/
The University is making every effort to deliver the best education we can in these difficult circumstances created by the pandemic and the new national restrictions. If you do have concerns about your academic experience or support services, please do raise this with your Head of School or the relevant service manager in the first instance. We want to help you in any way we can. However, if your concerns cannot be resolved informally, the University has a formal Student Complaints Procedure which is detailed in the University Regulations (Part E), which you can find on the University Policies section of the University website here: https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/abouttheuniversity/governance/universitypolicies/
Future updates
We are in regular conversations with our local Public Health team and are members of the Local Resilience Forum. As explained in our Outbreak Plan, we will be working with these local partners to ensure your on-campus experience continues to be as safe as possible and the Public Health professionals believe that the University’s plans are effective. If the pandemic situation changes in Lincoln, we will adjust our delivery of blended teaching between face-to-face and online learning in response; taking account of both central government advice/legislation and the local guidance of the Public Health team. As happened last week, any changes will be communicated to you via email and/or Blackboard from your school, and timetables will subsequently be updated.
We are still awaiting Government guidance around arrangements for the Christmas break (which at Lincoln runs from 21st December 2020 to 3rd January 2021) and will share this with you as soon as we possibly can. You can also follow the latest Government announcements at gov.uk/coronavirus.
Semester B
We are currently working hard to plan for Semester B which commences on 15th February 2021, after Semester A assessments. We are aiming to continue to deliver teaching in a blended way, mixing face-to-face sessions with online learning.
Assessments in Semester A and B are planned to continue online with face-to-face examinations only planned if required by professional, statutory and regulatory bodies. Practical assessments, where needed, will be arranged in a safe and socially distanced way.
If, at any point, we have to delay practical teaching sessions or assessments because they cannot reasonably be moved online, your school will let you know how these will be delivered later in the year, when it is safe to do so. For key term dates, see: https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/studentlife/termdates/
We are aware that students and their families will have questions about how the University is responding to changing circumstances now and in the months ahead and we hope this update provides you with answers to the current situation. We will continue to communicate with you if anything changes.
Please do speak to your School or Student Services in the first instance if you have any queries or concerns – and do make use of the resources and support available to you.
Take care of yourself, and each other. The University of Lincoln community has always been supportive and caring and at this time we all need to continue this approach as much as we can.
Best wishes
Professor Liz Mossop
Deputy Vice Chancellor