Last week we asked you to tell us what questions you wanted answered around the Safety Net and measures that had been put in place to support your academic studies and qualifications through the COVID-19 pandemic.

We were overwhelmed by the response and want to thank you again for sharing your questions and views to make your voice heard.

Your VP Education, Emi Dowse, hosted a Q&A session with two key members of University staff to pose your questions and get you answers. Attending the session were:

• Professor Julian Chaudhuri - Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Student Experience)
• Dr Adele Hill - Associate Dean - Teaching and Learning, currently leading the University group looking at supporting teaching, learning and studying during the Covid pandemic.

Watch the session here

Read the full update here

In just 24 hours you submitted a total of 385 questions relating to the Safety Net and these questions were voted on 9390 times by 1159 students.

Thank you to each and every one of you who took the time to submit questions, vote on them and share this link with your peers.

Your questions have now been collated and passed on to your Student Representatives to review. We’ll be releasing information about the pre-recorded Q&A session in the next few days and will provide an update on how you are able to access this as soon as possible – keep an eye on our social media channels for more information.

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From the 385 questions submitted, we’ve drawn out the following key themes and these will be used to decide the questions taken to the University to be answered in the Q&A session.

• Difference in Safety Net measures between this year and last year
• The impact on students’ mental health
• The impact of a Safety Net and validity of degrees
• Support for courses with practical elements including access to workshops, field trips and/or placements
• The challenges of studying from home with other responsibilities such as being a keyworker or childcare
• Changes to the University experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic

We received questions on a wide range of issues and to ensure that each question is addressed as thoroughly as possible we will aim to raise these in future Q&A sessions. Although the above themes do not include questions which were asked that were unrelated to the Safety Net, those questions have still been noted and passed on to your Student Representatives to inform and influence further discussions.

Read the full update here

Working with the University we have put in place digital Q&A sessions that will enable you to ask questions directly to the people that are working on the issues for you. You will be able to anonymously submit questions through our student-only system and also vote on questions submitted by others. This system is exclusive to University of Plymouth students.

Once the question window has closed the questions will then be looked at by your student representatives and they will then be shared with the relevant area of the university to address. We will then be hosting a recorded conversation with the university to discuss your questions raised, this will then be shared back with you.

It is vital that we ensure that your voice is being listened to and we will work to address the issues that are affecting you most.

Read the full update here

An update from your VP Education, Emi Dowse

This is not the end. Just because the University hasn’t implemented anything at this point, doesn’t mean they still won’t. I will be working with the University to continue to convey the student voice in future meetings and ensure you get the extra support you need.

What can you do?

• Be understanding. I received a lot of feedback criticizing lecturers and university staff members for being off at Christmas. While I understand students frustration at not being able to get in touch with them during your assessment periods It is important to be mindful that many of these lecturers have not had a proper break since last Christmas due to covid, and for them to be effective in their teaching and their support of you they do need to rest and take time off. They are not the ones making these decisions and are also experiencing the same pandemic as you are so please give them some grace.
• Be specific. As you are now aware many aspects of the safety net were kept for this years regulations. I recommend that if you want to communicate with the University that further measures need to be implemented then be specific with your requests. For example, instead of saying we want a safety net, say we want more support for dissertation students, or we want a way to prevent our grades from falling due to the pandemic. The more specific you are the easier it will be to get your point across.
• Be patient. I know the stress and anxiety that you are all facing at the minute but I do need to ask you for your patience at this time. I am still working with the University and will keep you updated as much as possible, but there may not be a quick fix.

Read the full update and summary of updates below here

An update from your VP Education, Emi Dowse

On the 13th January your Sabbatical Officer team met with the University of Plymouth Vice Chancellor to present the student feedback collected in the poll and the points outlined at the UTLQC meeting the day before.

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Vice-Chancellor of the University of Plymouth, Judith Petts’ response:

The Vice-Chancellor stated that the University adapted their programmes to a blended learning model to account for the change in learning and adopted most of the key elements from last year’s Safety Net into emergency regulations for 20/21 to help support students due to the changing circumstances.

She recommends that if students need more support or are struggling that they go to their Personal Tutors and if they do not receive a response then to contact their School office.

If students are not in suitable working environments at their term-time address, for example, there are multiple individuals working in the one space, or there isn’t sufficient WIFI then the Vice-Chancellor advised that they are allowed to return under the Government’s recent guidance (view the latest Government guidance here).

Finally, she noted that work is now being done to move any practical and lab sessions which were scheduled during lockdown later in the year.

An update from your VP Education, Emi Dowse

On the 12th January I attended the UTLQC. Thank you to everyone who emailed me your feedback and who voted in the poll, this helped me raise the following points at the UTLQC:.

• Firstly, I clarified that when students are asking for a safety net this is something to fall back on if their grades drop due to the circumstances such as only taking their best 60 credits, and automatic Extenuating Circumstances (EC’s).
• I then fed back the results of the poll on the UPSU website, acknowledging that while the question was broad it showed that students felt they need and wanted additional support. Of the 4545 students who completed the poll 98.5% (or 4478 students) answered “yes” to the question “should the Uni reinstate the safety net introduced in the first lockdown?”
• Finally, I raised the reasons for wanting a safety net– examples include, but aren’t restricted to - parents with children at home, home issues, general learning environment, COVID-related issues and bereavement. The biggest effect is the impact on mental health with students coming to us at a crisis point. There are also students who are struggling to defer at this point in the year due to finance and struggles.

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The response from the UTLQC was as follows:

The committee acknowledged that this year has been tough for students and they are concerned about student’s wellbeing, they empathise with the struggles that students are facing as many of the staff are also facing them. It was noted that we are starting to see chronic issues with hardware and WIFI which can affect students’ ability to access learning and the committee hopes that the new hardship fund will be a start to addressing students struggles with WIFI, hardware and rent (read the VC's statement from 13th January, emailed to all students, here) being launched should address students' struggles with WIFI, hardware and rent etc.

Work has now been done to inform students of what support was implemented in last year’s Safety Net is still available (an update was sent to all students on 12th January, view it here) and the Extenuating Circumstances page (which you can view here) has been updated to include issues caused by COVID such as illness, WIFI troubles, childcare etc. Students should also know that most claims are being accepted at the moment however there is a delay so please don’t worry if you don’t hear back immediately.

The committee agrees that what we have in place currently is not enough due to the current circumstances and they are now looking into what we can implement to further support students without devaluing their degree.

The UTLQC acknowledged that students would like something similar to the 'best of 60' approach which was implemented last year, however, they are concerned that this would devalue the degrees, as it would mean final year students would potentially graduate with a degree based on 120 credits which would damage the quality of the degree and risk some employers or universities not accepting them in the future. They also need to achieve a standard of quality expected by the Government and PSRBS.

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Finally, I think it’s important for me to say that the committee was really understanding and empathetic to the challenges students are currently facing. They all do want what’s best for the students and will look forward to revisiting the safety net but with a view of quality and standards. Even if ‘best of’ isn’t the right approach, they will be looking into suitable alternatives.

An update from your VP Education, Emi Dowse

4545 students completed the Safety Net poll which asked 'Should the University reinstate the Safety Net introduced in the first lockdown?'

98.5% of students who responded to the poll answered 'yes' to needing additional support.

An update from your VP Education, Emi Dowse

Following my recent update on the work we have been doing regarding the Safety Net at Uni, we received hundreds of responses from students stressing the importance of the safety net and how this 3rd lockdown is impacting on your teaching, learning and wellbeing. Thank you to everyone that got in touch and shared your stories, your feedback is making your voices stronger in our discussions with the University.

The University have recently updated on the current position (08/01/21) and we recognise the negative impact this pandemic has had on?teaching, learning and wellbeing. We want to work hard to ensure that your futures are protected and your voices are heard.

To enable us to have a stronger voice we need to understand the scale of how important a Safety Net would be to you to help influence reviews of the situation. Please help us to strengthen the union voice and complete this very quick poll, the more of you that complete the poll the greater our voice.

Read the full update here

An update from your VP Education, Emi Dowse

At this meeting the petition started by students via change.org was discussed and it was recognised that there was confusion as to what students were asking for from the University. It was announced that there would not be another safety net due to the reasons mentioned in the previous meeting. It was explained that extra support measures had already been implemented at the beginning of the academic year such as allowing 10-day extensions, or non-submissions for self-certification of extenuating circumstances.

As your representative I explained that despite the University having extra time to prepare for blended learning, not all students were receiving it and the quality of online teaching was not always up to standard. I highlighted that students mental health has been suffering significantly largely due to the uncertainty and working environments. Alongside this, students are dealing with issues such as noise in shared housing, poor Wi-Fi, lack of lab/studio and practical time making it difficult to learn and produce good quality work. As a result of the discussion, the University have agreed to publish clear and more accessible information outlining what support has been put in place due to the pandemic and how students can access it.

I was unsatisfied with the University's response and not recognising the full extent of the challenges students are facing, so I focussed on collating your feedback about what you want from a safety net. This was then presented to the University. We are currently writing a paper to present to the Associate Deans and UTLQC and as your representatives the sabbatical team will be discussing this matter with the University Vice Chancellor as an upmost priority for you.

Read the full update shared on 6th January 2021 here

An update from your VP Education, Emi Dowse

On the 11th of November, we raised the topic of a new Safety Net at the University Teaching and Learning Quality Committee (UTLQC). The University responded saying that the first safety net was implemented due to the speed that the first lockdown came into place and the sudden switch to online learning. There would be no need for a new safety net as they had been preparing for blended learning since the summer and students were made aware of it before the year beginning.

We followed this up by consulting with students and collating the different reasons why you felt you needed a safety net to share at the next UTLQC meeting on the 23rd November.

Read the full update shared on 6th January 2021 here

An update from your Sabbatical Officer team 2019/2020

The Sabbatical Officers are currently working with the University to get additional clarity around the safety net mainly for postgraduate students and those who had not yet achieved 60 credits as of the 16th March. Some additional information has been added to the safety net FAQs and we have been assured more will be up soon.

In terms of calculating marks the university have been working through comprehensive modelling of what the best 60 credits looks like and more information around how this will work will be shared later I believe. The university are also aware that some students will be more disadvantaged than others and have been looking at what more we can offer to these students, the details are yet to be finalised around this. Finally, the university has stated that degree standards still need to be maintained as guided by the Office for Students.

An update from your Sabbatical Officer team 2019/2020

More details will be announced soon surrounding what it means for students in different schools, the University have been talking to Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs) to encourage them to agree to sign up to the Safety Net Policy.

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Your Sabbatical Officer team have been working closely with University staff to ensure that students aren't negatively affected by the current COVID-19 situation. Since the University of Plymouth announced the new Safety Net Policy the team have been working to clarify what this means for you.

Safety Net Policy