Since the very first lockdown in March 2020, your Students’ Union has been working to ensure that your academic experience is the best it can be under extremely challenging circumstances and ensuring that the student voice is front and centre in any decision that is made.
Our latest statement from 11 Jan 2021 outlines what we have been working on since the 3rd national lockdown was announced and along with this we have written open letters to the following people asking for their support.
Rama
Thirunamachandran
Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Canterbury Christ Church University
[view letter pdf]
The letter to the VC includes internal recommendations based on your feedback whilst the letters to the MPs asks for their support to lobby for government-funded tuition fee rebates and support calls for students in private accommodation to be given government-funded rent rebates or the ability to break their contracts without penalty
If you would like to support our open letters to the Vice Chancellor and the Canterbury and Medway MPs, you can do so here.
Update 14 Jan 2021
We have now received a reply from the CCCU Vice-Chancellor, Rama Thirunamachandran, and you can download that here or scroll down to see the full letter.
In the letter Rama has confirmed he will be raising the issues of accommodation rebates and refunds as well as tuition fees to the government and will also be writing to local private housing providers to highlight the difficult circumstances for students.
It's great that the university have given rent rebates to those in university accommodation, but we know that there is plenty more to do and we, the students' union, will keep pushing to ensure that students' voices and concerns are heard and acted upon.
We will be giving regular updates on our progress so please keep an eye on this website as well as our social media so we can keep you updated on further developments.