Flying home for Christmas...

Tuesday 13 October 2020

The States is working on a plan to help get university students home for Christmas, as the pandemic continues to cause concern across the UK and further afield.

Although it is currently unclear what travel restrictions will be in place during the festive period, currently anyone arriving from the UK must self-isolate for 14 days.

At the moment, the States is carrying out scoping work to understand the extent of the challenges students and their families might face ahead of Christmas, particularly in relation to the capacity of travel links. The initial work will then be used to determine any measures that could be put in place to help.

More than 500 students who are receiving States funding for their courses have been emailed a survey, asking whether they intend to return to the island for the holidays and whether they have already booked travel.

Pictured: Students have been sent a survey via email to complete on their festive travel arrangements. 

They have also been sent information about what self-isolation means in practical terms, and asked whether it would be possible for them to quarantine safely in their family home.

While the States is able to contact the students who receive funding, there are still between 150 and 200 students who don't access the support and haven't been contacted.

Those students are asked to email studentfinance@gov.gg in order to receive the survey.