Skip to main content

Board member news

Firebreak update and an invite to live Q&A

2 November 2020
Claire Morgan. Female wearing glasses and a blue jumper smiling at camera.

Read a message from Claire Morgan, the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students sent today (2 November) regarding a live student Q&A and an updated coronavirus (COVID-19) advice tool on the student intranet.

Dear Student,

Tomorrow afternoon, I will join the Vice-Chancellor and your Students’ Union Officers in a live Q&A session where we will answer your questions. These may include anything you want to raise about either England’s new lockdown from Thursday (5 November) or following today’s latest update from the Welsh Government, so please join us from 15:30 – 16:30.

Firebreak update

We are more than a week into the Welsh Government’s firebreak, and I want to thank you all for continuing to support the effort to reduce the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Wales. As we covered previously, we’re now publishing the University’s own cases daily, and have now added a graph that shows you both new student cases and the seven-day rolling average.

With another week of these restrictions in place, we await further information from Welsh Government as to what will follow and will be in touch again once that has been announced. In the meantime, we’ve been updating our intranet guidance, which will hopefully clarify some of the questions you might have about self-isolation, including when you should be isolating and when you can stop. The NHS covid-19 app is a good way of tracking your self-isolation period, and can also help with contact tracing, keeping up to date with local area alerts, and booking a test.

Your views matter – module evaluation

As a University, we are committed to providing mechanisms by which we can listen, value and act upon your student voice. Our approach to partnership is designed to encourage you to share your views and opinions about what the University is doing well and what it can do better. We designed our approach to digital learning in partnership with our student digital champions. During your time with us, we will ask you how things are going, and in the coming weeks, you will all receive an email invitation to provide feedback for the modules or topics that you are studying.

I would strongly encourage you to complete these evaluations, so we can collate feedback on what is working well, and in particular how your digital learning is going. My thanks in advance for taking part. You can find further information on student surveys here.

Supporting you

Finally, I’m aware that this remains an extremely challenging time for many of you, especially as you have been asked not to travel between University and your home during the firebreak period. By staying at your term-time address in Cardiff, you are protecting your families at home and reducing the risk of spreading the virus across the country.

Please remember that we have many routes for you to access support if you don’t feel that you are coping. Please do not suffer in silence. You can contact Student Connect if you need support with your wellbeing. You can also speak to your personal tutor about your studies, or speak to fellow students if you are feeling lonely.

During the firebreak we have been continuing with our blended learning approach. Feedback from Schools has been very positive, and many have commented on the excellent engagement with this new form of learning. There are a whole range of resources to support you as you get used to studying in this way. If you are struggling with your studies, please make use of these resources.

My personal thanks once again for all your efforts to help us stay safe, and I hope to see many of you at our Q&A session tomorrow.

Best wishes,

Claire Morgan
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Education and Students