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<p>The safety and wellbeing of staff and students in higher education (HE) is always
our priority and the government is doing all it can to minimise the risks to those
working and studying in our HE institutions in this unprecedented situation, while
mitigating the impact on education.</p><p>As with all educational settings, we continue
to monitor the situation closely and follow the latest scientific advice, adapting
policies as the situation changes. Our guidance for providers on reopening campuses
takes account of the latest scientific advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for
Emergencies, which has been considering the risks of reopening HE institutions. The
guidance is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses</a>.</p><p>The
government has drawn on the expertise of the HE taskforce that we set up for this
purpose, and we have been providing robust public health advice and regular updates
to the sector to help it to plan carefully to keep students and staff as safe as possible.
As our guidance makes clear, we expect providers to conduct risk assessments and consider
appropriate measures to ensure that they minimise risks to the wellbeing of staff
and students while delivering the high quality education for which our HE providers
are known.</p><p>We have worked with universities to ensure that they all have outbreak
plans. These have been developed in conjunction with local Public Health Teams and
all have been or are being agreed with local Directors of Public Health. The plans
cover a range of scenarios and ensure providers are prepared to respond quickly to
an outbreak in their educational setting or wider community.</p>
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