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As hot takes go, this is pretty crap from @soniasodha. No mention of @ucu @DrJoGrady’s constant warning universities that bringing students back would be a disaster. No acknowledgement of the massive amount of work that university staff are doing. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/14/students-consumers-coronavirus-universities-refund
I feel so sorry for students stuck at home and attending classes online instead of in person, but you know what? There’s a pandemic. How are they supposed to be taught? What’s the alternative? Should university study just be cancelled until covid is gone (if that even happens)?
In my opinion universities shouldn’t charge fees but since govt says students should pay for their education that’s where we are. If you can’t go on holiday you get a refund because you can’t go at all. This is a really stupid & inappropriate comparison to make with uni fees.
Students are getting their education in a different medium. University staff are working incredibly hard to make sure that what they get is high quality. Schools are in the same position. Sure it’s not what we or they wanted but we could say that of the whole of 2020.
(On accommodation which is a completely different issue I definitely think that students should be refunded. Unis and govt should have listened to @ucu @DrJoGrady on this months ago - but unis were apparently pressured by govt to keep things going in person as much as possible.)
Asking for fee refunds because (high-quality) learning happens online instead of in person buys into the neoliberal crap that got us here in the first place. Campaign to abolish fees, sure, but don’t denigrate hard work of university staff (& students!) that’s going on right now.
