Swine 'flu and University

Top_Banana_2

I'm a little bit concerened about the Swine 'flu pandemic. I'm starting at university in September and I'm dreading catching the damn thing either coinciding with the start of term, or during the first few weeks there.

I don't want to miss any lectures (etc) during the first semester, as I don't want to be playing catch up.

Will universities and colleges be making allowances for this situation?

Lokolo

Well most of the lectures and tutorials in first weeks are pretty vital but they should use Blackboard technology so all of the stuff gets uploaded to the interweb. So as long as you've made friends with people on the courses you won't get too far behind.

littlebird22

Try not to worry about it. The university will have a comprehensive action plan in place because not only will they have to account for students getting swine flu, they also need to consider that lectures won't go ahead if tutors (or even their children as they will have to stay at home and look after them) get swine flu. Certainly my university (Stirling) is emailing students all the time already with updates to the action plan.

The students union should also be monitoring the situation very closely. They will ensure that no student is disadvantaged by swine flu. They are probably already liaising with the university as the new President will have been elected before the summer and will already be in place. When swine flu becomes a pandemic a lot of students are going to be affected so even if you are one of the unlucky ones, you certainly won't be alone.

Try not to let it spoil your enjoyment of your first term. If you do fall behind at any point (for any reason) then don't feel too intimidated to email your tutor with questions or even to ask for a quick meeting with them so that they can explain it to you. They are there to help and it can only work in your favour to show that you take your studies seriously (obviously so long as you are not bugging them all the time!).

atypical

It's not something you should worry yourself about. Even if you did contract it (and there's no way of knowing for sure if you had since they're not testing for it anymore) you'd probably only miss a week or so.

Claire_Bear

Isn't there also some sort of restriction in place which says that if a certain percentage of students and staff are off ill with a contagious illness, they temporarily close the uni down to stop it from spreading. I know they did this with mumps a few years ago, might be the same thing. Besides, the dreaded Fresher's Flu is probably a lot worse than swine flu!

Jewell_2

I work at a University (Central Lancs) and we are constantly getting updates about Swine Flu. As has been said, try not to worry about it and just look forward to starting. I'm sure your lecturers will make provisions for students missing lectures due to being ill as they won't want anyone to fall behind. I'm sure you're fellow students will also come to your aid should the worst happen

bestpud

Claire_Bear wrote: »

Besides, the dreaded Fresher's Flu is probably a lot worse than swine flu!

Yep, you are bound to catch something in the first couple of months OP, so it may as well be swine flu!

Seriously though, just keep in touch with lecturers if you are ill and make sure you are aware of any work/reading that needs doing (from friends, lecturers, or the Blackboard), and you will be fine.

SuziQ

As bestpud says,most freshers catch stuff in the first few weeks anyway! When my daughter started at canterbury last year,most of the first years had laryngitis by mid-freshers week, a lot had d&v and then many had continual coughs for months,followed by an epedemic of glandular fever! Eat well from now onwards with fresh fruit and veg,maybe take echinacea as advised on the pack which certainly protected my dd from the worst of it-she has taken it off and on ever since and has remained far healthier than most of her peers.I don't know at the Uni you are going to,but at my dd's in her subject of law the lectures were also broadcast on the web so she never had to miss anything.

Claire_Bear

That's some good advice SuziQ It's pretty inevitable that you'll catch some complaint or ailment, the best thing you can do is to make sure you look after yourself well from now until you go, and while you're there, to give your body the best chance of fighting whatever it is. Freshers flu is particularly bad because people are drinking more alcohol than usual, getting less sleep than usual, eating worse, and living in close quarters with a lot of other students so things are passed around easily. If you make sure you're eating lots of fresh fruit and veg, fresh juices and smoothies etc and trying to get a decent amount of sleep then you should be ok Uni's are prepared to have a lot of people absent for the first few weeks because of this anyway so they'll be used to it.

mumps

My DD went down with meningitis in her first term at uni. She missed four weeks, spent most of Christmas holiday recovering and went back and passed her January exams. She got notes from friends and the web and even had work taken in to her in hospital. Try not to worry, they have seen it all before.

dieselhead

I wouldn't worry in my experience 99% of new student (and a high proportion of returning students) get freshers flu. Now maybe this year the virus of choice will be swine flu but to be honest you will probably miss more lectures through hangovers than through a bout of flu!