Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic many university students feel they are at a disadvantage due to the inadequate online teaching and support that has been provided. For TRI2/3 of the 2019/20 academic year Anglia Ruskin University introduced a No Detriment Policy meaning that students who scored lower due to the change in teaching and environment would have their grades rounded to their average so their grades would not suffer. Since the start of TR1 for the 2020/21 academic year Anglia Ruskin have decided against enforcing this Policy as we should be used to the learning conditions now - instead only advising us to use extensions on our work; for a university that had lecturers start their lectures explaining to us in detail how online learning could not compare to face-to-face teaching and how our grades would highly suffer if we did not attend lectures, this seems extremely hypocritical.

As a third year Criminology student who is currently writing my dissertation which will determine if I graduate, my course mates and I as well as many other students on different courses, for example Paramedic students who are undertaking practical courses (so are already disadvantaged by the online delivery of course material) feel as though Anglia Ruskin has left us at a massive disadvantage removing the policy from their system. We cannot be expected to produce the same level of work that we were when we had access to face-to-face lectures, meetings and open access to all the Anglia Ruskin services. Therefore I am calling on Anglia Ruskin to bring back the No Detriment Policy for the 2020/21 academic year.