Information for Parents

We are monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and its impact, and doing all we can to make safe and reassure our staff and students.

My child is under 18 and living independently, how will they be supported?

We always take our commitment to safeguard younger students very seriously, and have put extra provision in place to ensure that we are in contact with students who are under 18 years regularly and can be supported during this period. If you have any concerns please contact the Student Wellbeing Officer, Richard Kaminski on r.m.kaminski@bham.ac.uk

Why are we currently closed to students?

The Ministry of Education UAE has announced that all schools, colleges and universities in the UAE will close until September. This means the UoB Dubai campus building will be closed to students during this time.

The decision to close all schools, colleges and universities has been made to reduce the chance of Covid-19 spreading and to provide the opportunity to deep clean schools.

Are summer exams and other assessments still going ahead?

Students have had full communication from the University, describing changes to assessments for the summer 2020 exam period. This overview can be accessed via the 'Information for Students' page. Students should continue to monitor their university e-mails.

When will campus reopen? How will this affect the academic schedule?

At present we are working on the assumption that campus will reopen in some form in September 2020. We expect this may involve some social distancing measures and so are taking all steps to prepare for this.
However, we are also mindful that this continues to be a rapidly evolving situation and so have made detailed prepartions for any likely eventuality.

What happens to my son or daughter's learning?

The expectation is that learning continues, just in different forms. We will be providing high quality learning online during this period to ensure continuity of educational provision.

Will student support be available?

Yes, absolutely. Student wellbeing is of paramount importance to us, especially during this time, and all student services will be available through phone and online.

Even though we are not currently able to meet in the usual way, we are still very much here to support our students.

If your son or daughter needs to be in contact during this phase of learning please take a look at the following resources:

Student Wellbeing Officer – Richard will be available at usual office hours Sunday to Thursday and can be contacted by phone / whatsapp ( +971 55 182 7903), and email.
University Senior Tutor (Dubai) – Olivia Goncalves is also available to contact by e-mail: o.goncalves@bham.ac.uk
Wellbeing support pages - https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/Your-Wellbeing/Index.aspx
The Guild of Students in the UK also has lots of Wellbeing support resources - https://www.guildofstudents.com/
Self help guides written especially for our students - http://www.selfhelpguides.ntw.nhs.uk/birmingham/
Lighthouse Arabia is a wellbeing centre that has lots of resources and different sessions that may benefit students, some of which are completely free –

https://www.lighthousearabia.com/

https://www.lighthousearabia.com/services/child-adolescent/

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or to ask someone if they need help.