You can read the Students' Union's original open letter on the SU website.

Dear Officers,

Thank you for writing to me and for your powerful representation of the student community at the University at what remains a very challenging start to the academic year for all of us.

I know that many students have expressed anxieties, experienced difficulties and needed additional support, while many others have adapted to university life during a global pandemic. I am determined that we support all students and continue to adapt our approach to anticipate whatever circumstances present themselves next in this fast-moving situation.

In my view, this generation of students and in particular the class of 2020 are bearing the brunt of the impact of the pandemic and associated national lockdowns, restricting your social activity, disrupting your education and impacting your employment prospects.

That is why Nottingham, alongside all universities across the UK, resumed campus teaching where safe to do so, to offer students an education to equip them for the post-COVID world, and to be part of a community of peers, with access our libraries, sports facilities, and the social activities provided by the Students’ Union.

As I write, the number of active cases of COVID-19 among our University community continues its downward trend, reducing by 69% since last Friday, to leave a total of 476 active cases from a peak of 1,530. While this demonstrates that measures to contain the coronavirus are working, we are never complacent and I want to thank students for continuing to follow the rules, appreciating that self-isolation in particular can be very difficult.

While our arrangements for supporting students and households who are isolating have helped many, I agree that this was not the case in all circumstances at the start of term and we have introduced measures which will provide further support and make isolation a more comfortable experience.

This includes enabling members of households who have not had a positive test result to isolate and take meals together, introducing a mobile shop, creating dedicated outdoor areas so that isolating students can exercise, and introducing additional support with laundry, postal and other services. To help students who are isolating, want to stay in with their households, or socialise safely on campus, we have also introduced a wide range of offers, campus social spaces and online entertainment under our staying in, saving lives initiative.

As you note favourably, we are one of a handful of UK universities to have invested in our own in-house testing service, alongside the national testing centres based on our University Park and Jubilee campuses. This is helping to tackle the hidden asymptomatic spread of the virus by identifying cases earlier and faster than the national system. We have this week extended the service to support students at Nottingham Trent University as well.

I fully appreciate that students may experience additional anxieties brought about by the pandemic or arrangements on campus to manage it. In that regard, our mental health, counselling and wellbeing teams stand ready to support any student who experiences any difficulties with isolation or any aspect of life on campus in the current situation. A wide range of mental health and wellbeing services are also available to students at any time.

While some media commentaries have decried the efforts of universities to provide a campus experience for young people, who have already missed out on so much, I do not believe that an indefinite return to teaching online-only will best serve this generation of students. Indeed, an online-only approach would only exacerbate some of the points you rightly make about the need to for students to explore themselves and find their place in our diverse community.

We will continue with our blended approach to teaching small groups in-person in COVID-secure classrooms and laboratories, and maintain larger groups and lectures online, keeping everything under regular review to ensure it is both safe and effective. Where students are experiencing difficulties in accessing either form of provision, please raise this with their Schools or through our regular meetings and we will act.

I was struck by your point about how students feel demonised by government and a media that is wholly focused on negative stories. I agree. This pandemic is not of your making and your generation will suffer its long-term economic and social consequences - yet a small number of ill-advised actions by a minority of students are continually highlighted as the behaviour that is typical of a community of more than 35,000. I have joined with the Vice-Chancellor at Nottingham Trent University to conduct media interviews and post articles calling for this vilification of students to stop, and I will continue to do so.

Using my position as Vice-Chancellor and as a Board member of Universities UK, I have and will continue to lobby government in the interests of all students, to ensure that students are treated fairly and proportionately as members of a civil society, and to act to make sure that your generation is nurtured and equipped to thrive in a post-COVID world.

In closing, may I say I am grateful that you recognise the efforts of all of our colleagues at the University who worked tirelessly since March to create a COVID-secure teaching environment, deliver a blend of in-person and online education and support our student community through the many difficulties that the pandemic presents.

I would also repay your compliment and thank you as Officers for representing your members while you continue to participate as partners in the University’s planning and operations at the highest level to support students and manage COVID-19.

Thank you again for writing to me, I look forward to continuing work with all of you so that together we can deliver the University experience that our students want and deserve in these unprecedented times.

Yours sincerely,