University teaching in the UK should stay online throughout the spring term following the rapid spread of the new strain of coronavirus, scientific advisers to the country¡¯s government have told Times ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø.

Students studying medicine and health-related subjects, education and social work returned to campus this week but plans for the return of other learners have now been pushed back to ¡°at least mid-February¡± under England¡¯s new lockdown.

Members of the Westminster government¡¯s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said that ministers should accept that campus life was likely to prove incompatible with the new variant of Covid-19, at least until a significant proportion of the population has been vaccinated.

Michael Tildesley, associate professor in infectious disease modelling at the University of Warwick and a member of Sage¡¯s modelling subgroup, warned that preliminary research indicated that ¡°all that the staggering [of students¡¯ return to campuses] will do is spread out your infection throughout the term¡±.

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¡°Ultimately, if you are having all students on campus, even if that happens over the space of a month or months, all you¡¯ll get is a slightly elongated epidemic,¡± he said.

The return of students to campuses last term was associated with large Covid-19 outbreaks on some campuses.

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¡°This time, particularly with a new variant that we know is more transmissible and so spreads more rapidly, you could see big waves of infection sweeping through campus,¡± said Dr Tildesley, who added that it was ¡°a bit odd¡± that students were already returning to campuses when many schools ¨C which should be the priority ¨C remained closed.

Stephen Reicher, Bishop Wardlaw professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews and a member of Sage¡¯s behavioural science advisory group, said that the new variant meant making online teaching the default was ¡°more urgent than ever¡±.

Sage modelling ¡°shows that control of the new variant is impossible without addressing both university and school mixing¡±, he said. ¡°What is more, we can connect the two. If universities go online, local schools could use university space to allow them to distance classes: a win-win outcome,¡± he said.

UCL has already broken with the government guidance and told students that there will be no in-person teaching until 22 February at the earliest, warning that this may need to be extended throughout the term. The institution referenced the fact that ¡°in?London, the number of cases is rising rapidly and our partner hospitals are at or beyond their capacity¡±.

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The University and College Union has called on the government to halt all non-essential in-person teaching until Easter.

Elizabeth Stokoe, professor of social interaction at Loughborough University and a member of the Independent Sage group of scientists, said that this was the right approach.

¡°Given that the vaccine is coming, but many at universities will be well down the priority list, that cases are surging now and NHS capacity is at breaking point, [universities] should be more online than they were last term,¡± Professor Stokoe said. ¡°We knew what would happen last term and to repeat it seems reckless.¡±

However, the experts agreed that without additional government funding, universities have been put in an ¡°unpalatable position¡±.

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¡°In making online the default, institutions need to ensure all students have the necessary computers and wi-fi and they need to ensure that students are not penalised financially, eg, by having to pay for cancelled accommodation. This in turn requires government support for institutions,¡± Professor Reicher said.

anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com