A message from the Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sally Mapstone FRSE
Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends,
I wrote to students and staff last week to update them on the decisions we have taken about the start of the new term in St Andrews and I would like to share these with you now. We have assessed the likely pattern of the Covid-19 pandemic in this country and overseas and have concluded that 14 September 2020 is the optimal date to begin the new term in St Andrews. This will offer some certainty to our students, prospective students, their families, and our general University community.
In the new semester, we will adopt a model of dual delivery in teaching.
Students and new entrants who can travel safely can expect to be taught in St Andrews in the normal way. For those who may be unable to travel to begin the new term on 14 September, we will provide comprehensive tuition remotely, and a smooth transition to the classroom on joining us in St Andrews once travel restrictions are lifted.
Orientation Week will take place in St Andrews in the normal way from 7 September, and we will provide a simultaneous orientation experience online to those new entrants who have chosen remote learning with us.
This is a stepping-stone to a large-scale return to the traditional ways of learning and teaching in St Andrews which have been the cornerstone of our award-winning student experience for many years.
Like every other university, St Andrews will face significant financial challenges as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, and we are one of a group of leading higher education institutions lobbying and advising at the most senior levels of government in Scotland and the UK for appropriate support.
My senior team and I have been guided by the principle that the University is one family, and our priority is to keep that family safe, informed, supported and together as best we can through the acute phases of this global crisis.
This principle has driven our thinking in developing contingencies to address the £25 million shortfall we face this academic year as a result of the Covid crisis.
This is largely accounted for by our decision to act in a socially responsible manner by being one of the first universities in the UK to release students from their accommodation contracts, the loss of conference and accommodation rentals over the summer, and the continuing absence of funded extensions for research grants.
In setting out the difficult decisions we have had to take to address this shortfall, I have been especially clear that we will not make compulsory redundancies and we will not ask staff to take salary cuts.
We must, however, make savings in other areas. This includes taking the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 academic promotions round and furloughing over 300 colleagues from professional services units.
Alongside these efficiencies, we will explore new and innovative ways of income generation.
As part of this, we have launched a focused appeal for Student Support and the Principal’s Strategic Response Fund to support the areas of greatest need at this time. It attests to the strength of our community that, to date, contributions to this appeal from alumni, parents, friends and supporters of the University have amounted to over £400,000. We are acutely aware that many in our community are themselves experiencing hardship both from health issues and the economic shock, but we are incredibly grateful to those who can contribute at this time.
There are many more demands on our available resources, including the commitment to our new University Community Fund which provides support to the many small, local organisations that are an integral part of our community relations. If you are able to contribute to the appeal, you can do so here.
By the time our students return to St Andrews, more familiar levels of normality should be restored, although things will have changed markedly; we should expect that normality to include widespread testing, contact tracing, and supported provision for self-isolation – but there will be substantial reassurance in that. It will be a world in which St Andrews can thrive, and just as importantly, it’s a world which will more than ever need the sharp, enquiring minds of our students and the strong intellectual and professional leadership of our staff within a safe, supportive environment where everyone can realise their best work.
All best wishes,
Sally Mapstone
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
Well done Sally, and good that the University, is managing to sustain an ‘underlying humanitarian style infra-structure’, for both students and staff, that they can hold on to in terms of their academic work, along with their ‘personal and physical moral well-being’ - hopes now and future. Which reminds me of the ‘motto of the old Civil Defence College’ that I experienced in my working past, especially during and post ‘national emergencies’. Which briefly went – ‘in, a structure’- we are going somewhere step by step, and will win - but, without it, all we will have, is crisis after crisis, shambles and lose. And, ha, ha - there is the urgent need for our valued Education, can we ever learn, from our ongoing ‘blooded and historical facts’ - that has always plagued our human behaviour, like a kind of ‘viral, or is it, sinful bacteria’. Is it a cure, or change of behaviour, that is needed. Good health to you Sally, and I hope all these young citizens of many nations succeed. Cheers to you and all.