THE University of Worcester will allow teaching 'in person', including training healthcare professionals, as Cambridge university calls a halt to face-to-face teaching.

The city's university is preparing to re-start 'in-person teaching' in September, under a careful plan to Save Lives; Protect the NHS; Live; Learn. In contrast there will be no face-to-face lectures at the University of Cambridge over the course of the next academic year due to coronavirus. Lectures will be available to students online and "it may be possible to host smaller teaching groups in person" if they meet social distancing requirements, the university said. It follows a similar move by the University of Manchester, which said its lectures would be online-only for the next term.

Worcester's stance was welcomed by students, some writing 'brilliant' and 'yes!' One nursing student, Rachael Tandy, said: "I am very keen to see how they all works in practice." Another only learned of the decision through the Worcester News Facebook page and wrote: "Nice to find out first hand eh?"

Professor David Green CBE, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Worcester, said: “The university is committed to ensuring we continue to contribute our all to the national recovery from Covid-19. This includes the best possible education of several thousand health and education professional students, who will benefit from practical face-to-face teaching. We are actively undertaking a series of practical examinations and risk assessments to ensure that we can do this in the safest possible way, respecting physical distancing and other guidance.

"We are in discussions with our health trust, school and other partners to do all we can to ensure students can continue to learn safely in their practical placements.”

Professor Green said re-starting as much in-person activity as possible was in the best interest of students.