The Master signs joint letter to the editor of The Times

Further to the message from the Senior Tutor about teaching in 2020/21, Professor Sir Mark Welland has signed a joint letter to the editor of the Times on behalf of St Catharine's College. Signed by other heads of Cambridge colleges, the published letter reads:

Sir, As heads of Cambridge colleges we have been concerned in recent days to see headlines around the world making the claim that Cambridge will be moving entirely online next year. These claims have caused unnecessary alarm to students and our wider community. We are a collegiate university, and our strength is that so much student activity takes place in colleges, from small group teaching and pastoral care to music and sport, as the Times report  (“All lectures at Cambridge to be online-only next year”, May 20) made clear.

We will always take the latest public health advice and clearly there will be challenges in providing all this in the next academic year. Online lectures will make a key contribution. But we are determined to do our best to bring the colleges and the university back to life with intensive in-person learning in the traditional locations and the widest possible range of activities.

Read today's Letters section of the Times (paywall).