Dear students,
As the number of cases of Covid-19 has increased and become more widespread, the UK government is calling for increased adherence to ‘social-distancing’ measures to help counter the outbreak. We’re calling on all DMU students and staff members to return home, wherever possible, to help the country protect public health.
Our ongoing transition to online learning and homeworking continues apace and we are now in a place to move more key student support services online so you can all continue to access help and advice remotely. See below for the latest updates (a lengthy one I know, but this demonstrates the monumental effort we’ve undertaken to adjust to an extraordinary situation so we can continue to support all of you through these uncertain times):
De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU) and The Campus Centre Building
To ensure the health and safety of all students and DSU staff, the Campus Centre Building will be closing so there will be no access to SU's Lounge, SUpplies, the DSU Reception and the Membership Office from Friday 20 March at 5pm. However, DSU will still continue to be available to support you online via their website, phone, email and on their social media channels. Please see below for their contact details:
Student Gateway
Although DMU’s reception counter services are currently closed, you can continue to call the Student Gateway Services in the normal way via phone on 0116 257 7595 (by selecting the relevant service from the menu) or by email studentgateway@dmu.ac.uk – visit the new Covid 19 – Information and Advice website for more information. You can also still book telephone appointments via myGateway. A staff member will call you at the allocated time on the phone number(s) as stored in DMU’s student records system. Please make sure your personal contact details are up-to-date by checking the Personal Details tile in myDMU.
Student Welfare services
During this very difficult time we regret to inform you that due to large scale staff absences we are not able to maintain a normal Student Welfare service. From now on, all appointments will now take place by phone or online, for example, through Skype. All enquiries should first be directed to disability@dmu.ac.uk or phone by calling 0116 366 4443. Please remember sources of support and information on wellbeing are available on the Healthy DMU hub. Visit the student FAQs here for more info.
DMU Prayer Room update
The DMU Brothers’ Prayer Room, Sisters’ Prayer Room, Ablution facilities, Chapel, Breathing Space and Sharing Space in Portland Building will be closed completely from Monday 23 March until further notice to DMU staff, students and visitors. No congregational prayer, individual prayer, services or group activity will be taking place in this area. Ongoing spiritual support information for a range of faiths can be found here.
Careers services
The DMUworks Careers, Placements and Student Enterprise teams will continue to support you remotely during this period too:
- Look out for DMUworks emails, tweets, Instagram and LinkedIn posts signposting you to online events and resources
- Use MyGateway to book a phone or e-guidance Careers, Placement and Enterprise student appointment
- Through MyGateway, access the DMUworks Skills Hub:
- Make the most of a huge range of careers resources, ideas and development programmes
- Upload your draft CV to our CV360 tool and receive an instant report on how to improve it.
- Complete the DMUworks Career Readiness self-assessment that will measure your employability and identify areas of improvement to boost your career confidence.
Job applications
If you're in the middle of applying for placements and graduate jobs starting this summer, the team can offer support - just get in touch. Make sure you pay close attention to employer job pages for any changes to application deadlines or interviews. Like everyone else, employers are having to quickly adapt their arrangements. We will do our best to bring you the latest key updates.
Placements
If you are on a placement year, your main point of contact is your Placement Tutor. You will already have received communication directly from them. Stay in touch with them if you have questions or need advice. You can also contact the placement team based in your faculty. Students on HLS placements should look out for information sent by their Link Tutor or usual placement academic contact, and the HLS Placement Team.
Your key contacts:
• Phone: 0116 257 7595 (select no. 4 for Careers)
• careers@dmu.ac.uk (all general careers enquiries)
• adhplacements@dmu.ac.uk
• businessplacements@dmu.ac.uk
• cemplacements@dmu.ac.uk
• hlsplacements@dmu.ac.uk
• enterprise@dmu.ac.uk
• unitemps@dmu.ac.uk
• Twitter: @DMUworks
• Instagram: @DMUworks
Academic Support Office (ASO)
The Academic Support Office will also remain open remotely during normal office hours and will provide the same service levels as detailed in the General Regulations and Procedures Affecting students and our policies. You can contact the ASO via email acasupportoffice@dmu.ac.uk. The key changes to note are:
- Academic Practice Officer activities
- Student Panels
- All student panels will be suspended. They are:
- University Complaints Committee
- Disciplinary Panels including Fitness to Practise Panels
- Academic Offence Panels
- Complaints
- All investigations into stage 2 and stage 3 complaints will be suspended
- Academic Appeals and examination deferrals
- Academic appeals and examination deferrals will continue to be progressed but it is unlikely the team will be able to deal with requests within the usual timeframes.
Free access to the Adobe Creative Cloud for DMU students
To further support our students and staff during this transition period to home studying, Adobe has granted us temporary at-home access to the Creative Cloud suite. The Adobe suite will be available until Sunday 31 May 2020. We are very grateful for this offer as it helps our students and staff to continue their work remotely. Adobe has provided these instructions on how to gain access to Creative Cloud and its services. Please read and follow the guidance carefully. If you experience any problems accessing the Creative Cloud suite please contact Adobe directly through its HelpX page.
Staying connected if you remain on campus
For those of you who will be unable to return home and will be remaining on campus, we want to assure you that we will be making sure you get all of the support you need and will be offering avenues for you to stay connected to others in the same situation including a new closed Facebook group to launch next week. Look out for more details.
We are continuing to meet daily to discuss the best ways to continue to support your learning and wellbeing as we increase our online provision. Our primary goal is to play our part in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 and protect your health and wellbeing.
Thanks again for your ongoing patience, understanding and cooperation.
Best wishes,
Jo Cooke
Associate Chief Operating Officer & Executive Director of Student & Academic Services
Posted on Saturday 21 March 2020