Dear Magda,

We hope that you and your family are safe and well in these difficult times.

We, the Master’s students at the UCL School of Management, are excited to start our year at one of the most prestigious and well-known universities in the world. There is no doubt in our minds that we made the right choice to attend UCL and intend to make the best of it – pandemic or not.

While we understand that the School of Management is doing a lot to offer a great experience to its students in unprecedented circumstances, we do believe and must insist that UCL adopt a more flexible, and sensical approach to our education. Many of us were under the impression that our experience would be hybrid – i.e. some in-person modules and some online. After receiving our respective timetables, exchanging correspondence with your colleagues, and attending induction we were informed that our education would be completely online, which was a disappointment to many. We understand that UCL needs to follow safety guidelines, but we sincerely believe that UCL is fully able to offer both in-person and safe classroom education. That is especially true for the School of Management which is detached from the main campus and a much smaller cohort than other programs. A few options such as turn-based in-person attendance, in-person seminars versus large classrooms, limited seating arrangements, or staggered schedules could be a better experience than currently available.

At the end of the day, we all chose UCL to network with classmates, meet new people, and expand our horizons. We know that many other London and UK institutions are offering hybrid education for Term 1 and we do not see a reason why we cannot have similar arrangements.

We do hope you consider our request seriously.

Kind Regards,

UCL School of Management Postgraduate Students