MORE than 1000 students from the University of Sussex have written an open letter demanding the university “reconsiders” its tuition fees after classes moved online due to Coronavirus.

In the letter, addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, students have argued that their university experience has been “tarnished by poor management, empty promises and a hefty debt”.

The students argued that the current “blended learning approach”, a mixture of online and face-to-face teaching, is not “engaging”.

The University of Sussex have said they are committed to students “progressing with their learning.”

The letter “urges” the university to “reconsider tuition fees to reflect the quality and standard of education”.

Tuition fees for an undergraduate course at the university for students from the UK currently stand at £9,250 for the 2020/21 academic year.

An accompanying petition has now been signed by over 1,300 students from across academic years and disciplines.

The Argus: An accompanying petition has now been signed by over 1,300 students from across academic years and disciplines. An accompanying petition has now been signed by over 1,300 students from across academic years and disciplines.

Support for the letter grew through the Instagram page BrightonBanter, which is ran by students from the University of Sussex.

A student who runs the account told The Argus: “Our studies have been significantly negatively impacted, with zoom calls having many technical difficulties, it’s very hard to stay concentrated in your home environment and seminars and workshops are awkward with little to no interaction.

“We want everyone to speak up and tell the university how they feel collectively, as we believe that this is the only way the university will finally listen to us and hopefully, they will take appropriate action.”

In a statement the University of Sussex said they understand there has been “huge disruption” to normal university teaching and activities.

A spokesman said: “We absolutely appreciate that the University experience is different this year and that this pandemic has impacted normal activities for people around the world.

“Despite the impact of Covid-19, in the first three weeks of term, around 30% of our teaching activities have been delivered in person: in classrooms, lectures theatres, laboratories and in one to one sessions.  These face-to-face sessions are delivered alongside some really innovative ways of delivering learning online too. 

“As we outlined before the academic year started, we have committed to provide 11 hours of live, interactive learning for each module during this semester. This won’t necessarily be evenly spread over the semester and some students will have had a greater focus on remote learning in these first few weeks, depending on their course.

“We understand the huge disruption that so many students have faced during the whole of 2020.  Whether they were impacted by their university studies moving online at the start of the pandemic or if they were studying for their A Levels earlier this year, it is undeniable that Covid-19 has had an enormous impact on students. 

“Our commitment to students at Sussex is that we don’t want the global pandemic to stop them from progressing with their learning.”