To uni students (in personal capacity): you’re angry at what’s happening. I would be too if all this had happened to me 20 years ago as I was about to go up. I’m cross on your behalf. I don’t want to be in this mess any more than you do bc I enjoy teaching & engaging with you 1/

It didn’t have to come to this. When successive governments imposed marketisation on unis & uni management acquiesced, it put them between a rock & a hard place this year. You’re a crucial source of revenue, so without a bailout, they had to promise the on-campus experience 2/

& get you paying for accommodation. That’s the business model, instead of the idea that education is a common good that should be free to all. So deciding to move online & reduce fees was never an option. But with the gov failing to get test & trace operational & rates of 3/

transmission rising, there’s no magic wand that uni estates depts could wield to manage the risks in campus environments. We’re seeing that with even the best-made plans in the US rates of infection are going up rapidly on campuses 4/

I want my students to learn in the ways I think work best—to engage you in animated discussion with me & one another, to work together on group projects, to debate over beer. But I also don’t want to see any of my students or colleagues have long-term health issues or even die 5/

In marketising education & dithering on public health, the government has put students & staff in the worst possible position at the last minute, asking them to bear the costs for something that falls short of what we want desperately to give you & is likely unsustainable. 6/

So I want to say: I share your frustration and disappointment. I want better for you. But that means we have to work together to change the education system in this country radically. 7/7