Over the past few weeks, we have been working alongside the University to prepare and plan for a different mode of operations. On Monday 16 March, the University took the difficult decision to suspend all face-to-face teaching. The University have also taken the additional step to close all buildings, excluding halls of residence, as of Tuesday 24 March.
We fully understand that you will have questions and concerns but this decision has not been taken lightly and has been made to protect the interests of our students, staff and society as a whole.
As a Students’ Union, we have been preparing for this and the staff team have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure that we are able to offer all of our members a continued level of service, across the various different Union departments.
The below information covers all Union-led services and details what we are able to continue offering and how you can reach those teams. If you have any further questions or are unsure about any of the following information, please email union@bucks.ac.uk.
Official University statement
The Government has told us that we must close our buildings, excluding our halls of residence, to help them prevent the spread of Covid-19. However, the University remains open online, and is committed to protecting your students’ learning experience.
We want to reassure you that the University is not closing, even if the Government has told us we must close some of our buildings to help them prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Your student experience matters to us
We remain fully committed to protecting your learning and student experience. Your course leaders will contact you about the alternative ways you’ll be able to complete the work that would have taken place in the workshops, studios, labs etc. Please be patient as this could take a few days and don’t worry – we’ve got this in hand.
The Government’s advice and guidance is shifting regularly but I want you to know that the University’s position remains unchanged. We’re doing everything we can to minimise the impact of Covid-19 on your student experience and wellbeing:
- We’ll keep working hard behind the scenes to find answers to the things that are worrying you;
- As soon as we have information, we will share it with you – and we’ll tell you if we can’t answer your question straightaway;
- You can find the latest student FAQs, as well as links to the most recent Government advice;
- We will make sure you can progress to your next year of study and, for our final-year students, that you complete your degree and can start your careers as you planned.
Every one of you is important to us, and we are here for you. Please remember you can email student.centre@bucks.ac.uk if you have any concerns at all.
Take care of yourselves, and please protect those who are at high-risk of becoming seriously ill if they contract Covid-19.
For more information about the University's response and to view some frequently asked questions, please visit the University website.
Private accommodation letter template
The University have produced a template for an open letter that can be used to send to private landlords. The templates can be accessed through the accommodation section on Blackboard.
Events
As of today (Tuesday 17 March), we are postponing all future events, until Sunday 26 April 2020. If you currently have a ticket for any of our events over this period, please contact your point of purchase for a full refund or details on a potential rescheduled date. Any shows that are being rescheduled will be communicated via social media and our website.
Varsity, against the University of Roehampton, is cancelled and we have already refunded all ticket holders.
We have sadly taken the decision to postpone Festiball 2020 and this will now be held over the weekend Friday 2, Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2020. For more information about the events and tickets, please visit the Festiball event page.
For any further information, please email suevents@bucks.ac.uk.
Clubs, societies and Sport for Fun sessions
Our club and society meetings, events and training sessions are cancelled with immediate effect. This includes any BUCS league fixtures that are postponed until further notice.
The annual I LOVE TOUR trip to Croatia was cancelled last week and they have already contacted all students to inform them and arrange refunds.
Advice Centre
The Advice Centre team are not currently holding face-to-face appointments at any of our sites. The team will be in touch for any upcoming and pre-booked appointments and to arrange an alternative way to speak to you, either by phone or Skype.
If you need to arrange an appointment with an adviser, you can fill out an enquiry form.
Recreational activities and skills sessions
All upcoming trips and sessions are postponed until further notice and we have initiated the process of arranging refunds for all bookings. All refunds should be complete within the next five working days.
The team will continue to source ways of delivering developmental activity remotely and we will advertise these opportunities on our website and Facebook pages. For any 1-2-1 sessions scheduled, the team will be in touch to arrange meetings via Skype or phone.
Careers and employability advice and training is still available by emailing the team at sutraining@bucks.ac.uk.
Our staff team
Our entire staff team are now working remotely off-site. Although this will result in not being able to speak to someone face-to-face, our staff team are still available to speak to by email, phone or Skype. To speak to a member of staff, please email them directly, in the first instance, and they will be able to take it from there. If you do not know their email address, please check the staff section on our website. For any further enquires please email union@bucks.ac.uk.
Cafes
Cafes at all sites are closed until further notice. If you need to speak to a member of the team please email hwcater@bucks.ac.uk.
Shuttle bus
We have reviewed the number of people using the shuttle bus and have taken the decision to temporarily suspend the service from Monday 20 April 2020, until further notice. If you are required to make a journey to Uxbridge during the regular service timetable - either for essential front-line work or as part of your placement activity - please contact us by emailing union@bucks.ac.uk so we can support alternative travel arrangements.
We will continue to communicate any further changes through our main digital channels and through the Campus Link Twitter account.
Course/academic-related enquiries
If you have questions about anything related to your academic studies, please email The Student Centre at student.centre@bucks.ac.uk.
Things to do…
We are currently developing a range of different online activities and we will keep you posted through our normal channels. In the meantime, please ensure that you follow our main Bucks Students’ Union and Bucks Students’ Union – Uxbridge accounts. You can also follow all three of our Sabbatical officers on Facebook: Bucks SU Pres, Bucks Vpew and Bucks Vpsi.
Finally, we appreciate that these are challenging and extraordinary times. We urge you to look after yourself and pay full attention to the latest Government advice. If you do feel unwell please use the NHS 111 online service. We will also communicate with you and keep you as up-to-date as possible but please bear in mind that this is a rapidly evolving situation.
Last updated: 10am, Thursday 16 April 2020
Update (Thursday 16 April 2020): changes to the Festiball event and update to the campus-link shuttle bus service.
Update (Wednesday 1 April 2020): addition of a link to Blackboard for an accommodation letter template to be used to send to private landlords.
Update (Thursday 26 March 2020): change to the University statement, change to the opening hours of all cafes and addition of a link to an enquiry form for the Students’ Union Advice Centre.