Last March, a no-detriment policy was brought in at BCU in order to help students maintain their grades during the pandemic. This policy was a very big help to a lot of students who for a variety of reasons could not have achieved the same grades without the policy there as a safety net.

With Covid-19 now becoming worse than it was in March, we are feeling more burnt out and stressed than ever as we have been enduring this for almost a year now, and the novelty might have worn off and there has become a 'new normal' but learning is still being severely impacted by the pandemic and we are not getting the same experience as we would be if we were on campus as normal. A lot of people find online learning more difficult, particularly due to the fact that some courses feature few live sessions online and mostly run via pre-recorded materials, making it a much less personal experience and leaving students feeling like they are not engaging with the material.

It is frustrating that university students are expected to produce the same standard of work now as we were before and many people are worried about how our grades will be impacted by the pandemic, particularly those in their final year, as this could impact our future careers.

The no detriment policy would use the average grade each student had produced before the pandemic and although students would still have to undertake assessments, we would not be marked down for a lower quality of work due to the pandemic. Moreover, with the no detriment policy we would also have the opportunity to do better than our previous grade average.

The best thing BCU can do for the students is adopt this policy in order to give us some peace of mind during these difficult and worrying times and help contribute to our success during our time at BCU. Although we are grateful for everything BCU has done already, this policy would be extremely helpful for the students and help us cope better with this crisis as many of us are experiencing mental and physical health challenges at the moment and would appreciate help in order for us achieve the grades we deserve.