Following the Prime Minister’s press conference on Monday and the revised advice from Public Health England, we have been reviewing the steps we need to take to keep our staff and students safe.
The latest advice is clear that non-essential contact with others should stop. For this reason, we have taken the decision to substantially reduce activity across our Liverpool and London campuses.
Liverpool Campus
Catering outlets (except in Vine Court) and the Sports Centre are now closed. Alternative outdoor activities will be arranged in order to support health and wellbeing.
Some university buildings will remain open but with limited access and there will be nobody on reception desks. The Guild of Students has also taken the decision to close from tomorrow.
Of course, there are some parts of our campus which must remain open. Student support and wellbeing services, including counselling and mental health advisory services, will continue to operate and the Alsop building (in University Square) will be open from 10am-4pm during the week (Monday – Friday). Additional phone and email-based support will also be available to students between 9am and 5pm. You can access the Big White Wall 24 hours a day if you need support.
The library will also continue to operate for the time being, although additional social distancing measures will be introduced.
University-owned student accommodation
Student accommodation will remain open. Some of you may choose to return home, but we know that some of you will not be able to do so and others, for personal reasons, would strongly prefer not to at this time.
If you do return home and you are currently based in University of Liverpool-owned student accommodation, you will not be charged for the ‘after Easter’ term and, where applicable, the remainder of the academic year if you leave your accommodation by 31 March.
If you need to remain in our accommodation, we will support you in doing so. However, you may be asked you to move into a different hall so that we can support your wellbeing, enable social distancing and support staff who will remain on campus to ensure the safe running of our accommodation.
Information on visa implications for international students who would like to return home can be found on our FAQ page.
London campus
The London campus will remain open with a reduced service for the rest of this week and will be closed fully from next week.
Teaching and assessment
As we have mentioned previously, all learning will now be delivered online so that your progress is unaffected by the cancellation of face-to-face classes and this remains the case. Those of you studying clinical programmes (in the Dental, Health Sciences, Medical and Veterinary Schools) have received separate guidance about next steps. You will also receive separate information, in the coming weeks, about the move of assessments to alternative means. As previously mentioned, you will only be assessed in a way that your studies have prepared you for.
Graduation
We have taken the difficult decision to cancel the summer graduation ceremonies.
We will support you in receiving your formal qualification in order to progress academically or into your future career. However, we will offer an alternative form of celebration of your achievement at a later date. We know this will be disappointing but need to take all necessary measures to protect the health of our staff and student community.
You should have received an email today (Wednesday, 18 March) to explain this decision and provide further information.
This is clearly a very fast moving situation and we really appreciate your understanding as we continue to implement new measures. We know you will have many questions but please endeavour have a thorough look through your update emails and our online FAQs to check if your question is covered before emailing a member of university staff. This is so that we can prioritise queries we have not yet answered and provide new information and FAQs as needed.