Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Realistic possibility’ Scottish students may not be able to return home for Christmas

John Swinney MSP

There is a “realistic possibility” students may not be able to return to their homes at Christmas, the deputy first minister has said.

John Swinney warned that if the virus is not contained enough by the festive period, the Scottish Government may be unable to support the return of students to their homes over the break.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, the education secretary said:  “We want to avoid this at all possible costs because we want students to be able to return home but I’ve got to be realistic.

“If we have a situation where the virus is not being controlled then we will have to look at other scenarios and plans.

“There is a lot of thinking and work going on within the Scottish Government, Universities Scotland, the National Union of Students and also with the governments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to try and make sure this can be undertaken as safely as possible.

“But there obviously is a risk that if the virus is not contained then we may not be able to support the return of students to their homes, we want to avoid that but it is a realistic possibility.”

NHS staff hand out test kits to Glasgow University students

Mr Swinney was also asked about a “staggered” return to universities for students in the country.

This would mean students would return to campuses at different times to avoid a mass exodus across the country which happened in September and led to a spike in coronavirus infections.

He said: “We may have to look at students leaving campus over a phased period at the end of term and not getting to one particular moment where there is an exodus of people going home.

“Equally we are looking at January and how students are returning but this is conditional on the health and wellbeing of students and in what circumstances they are going back to in their own homes.

“They could be going back to homes with people who are vulnerable which would raise major issues about whether it was advisable for students to switch households at the turn of the year.”

Liam Kerr

Scottish Conservative north-east MSP Liam Kerr criticised Mr Swinney’s “wait and see” approach to this issue.

He said: “Many students who move to Aberdeen for university have families located across the UK so John Swinney’s ‘just wait and see’ approach simply isn’t good enough.

“With just eight weeks until Christmas, the education secretary has now left students across the north-east worrying about the prospect of spending the festive period alone – it’s an abysmal way for people to be treated.

“The SNP Government made chaotic mistakes when students returned to university in September and lessons must be learnt from this.

“Swinney must give clarity to students on the situation across the north-east instead of treating them like second-class citizens.

“Proper planning must be made to ensure Christmas can be enjoyed by everyone.”