Covid in Scotland: Will students stay at university or go home?

Nell Manson, left, and Lucy Owens are self-isolating at Glasgow University

Students in Scotland have been told they can leave their university accommodation and return home - under strict conditions.

New Scottish government guidance says they can move home permanently or to self-isolate, but only if other members of the household go into quarantine for 14 days.

Shorter indoor visits are only permitted if there is a "reasonable excuse" such as a bereavement or family emergency.

So will students stay in their university flats - or pack up and head home to continue their online classes?

'We are staying'

Glasgow University freshers Lucy Owens and Nell Manson have decided to stick it out. They tested positive near the start of the Murano Halls outbreak and see light at the end of the tunnel when their 10-day quarantine period ends on Wednesday.

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Nell, from Lancaster, said she can't wait to get outside. She told BBC Scotland: "I want to go home but I'm not going to go home. It would feel wrong and I am worried about my family.

"I can't wait now to go for a walk and see some greenery. This whole experience has bonded us as a flat."

Flatmate Lucy said contact from the university over the weekend had improved their situation. She said: "They called us individually and we got a food delivery from the university. It has been quiet - we are now staying apart from each other more."

Lucy, from Edinburgh, said she would keep going as she didn't expect to see her family until the end of term anyway.

'I've left my accommodation and gone home'

Will Cruikshanks has yet to find out whether he will be refunded for his university accommodation

Second year Will Cruikshanks has left his Stirling University accommodation and gone home to Ayr. He says he felt trapped isolating.

He didn't know classes were all online until he got to the university. He left as soon as the Scottish government guidance came out and is now self-isolating with his mum.

He said the business side of the university told him he had to be in accommodation. He has yet to find out if he will be refunded.

He told the BBC: "I didn't sign up to be in a hotbed of coronavirus. I just wanted to go to university.

"But I didn't feel safe the way the communal facilities were laid out.

"I wanted to get home. I was told there was going to be face-to-face learning. But for the vast majority of students there are no practical classes. So why were we there?"

'I want to go but I am scared of the repercussions'

Isobelle Robinson-Gordon described her university experience to date as "very ostracising"

Tizzie Robinson Gordon feels tricked into moving into halls at Edinburgh University. She has committed to a year's accommodation costing £7,000 on top of her £9,000+ tuition fees.

She saw several people move out over the weekend. She wants to go home to Bath but is staying because she fears the repercussions from the university.

She said: "Students are leaving before they get their Covid test results. They are so fearful of being stuck here they get home before the result so if they need to isolate they are at home.

"On Saturday night I had a number of friends who hired hotel rooms so they could leave on Sunday before being stopped from leaving.

"The Scottish government guidelines have been changed but we are still at threats of suspension for breaking policy and rules from the university.

"We have been told support is in place but when we reach out the response is very, very slow."

'We can't let our student children come home'

Not all students who would want to leave their accommodation are able to.

Robbie Crawford's daughter is getting over coronavirus at Glasgow University's Murano Halls. He runs a hotel on a Scottish island and his wife is a school teacher, so his daughter returning home and going into self-isolation would have a huge impact on staff, the family and the wider community.

He said: "We would obviously like her to come home, but it's quite awkward because we run a hotel, my wife is a school teacher so it will be difficult to get her back home with the number of people who would be affected."

Jenny from the Highlands has a daughter at university in Glasgow. She told the BBC's Mornings with Kaye Adams programme: "Out of our small family unit we have had to self isolate four times.

"I am an NHS nurse in a hospital There is definitely no chance of her coming home because I cannot self-isolate for another two weeks. "

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