The current national debate about Covid and universities doesn't understand who students are (short thread) 1/x

20% live at home. 17% live in their own homes. https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/chart-4 (2018/19 data) 2/x.

that means 37% of students can't stay away from home Christmas to protect older relatives - they already _are_ at home 3/x

the proportion of students at London universities living at home is much higher 4/x

students living at home have longer commutes, and spend more time on in campus social spaces each day, so can potentially carry viruses back and forth from university and home each day 5/x

policy-makers need to understand that for over 1/3 of students, university is not a place students they go away to - university is woven into day-to-day 'home' life, and that needs to influence policy on Covid 6/x

as ever in education policy, politicians need to stop extrapolating from their own experience and understand things now 7/7