From vaccines to treatments, working on the frontline to supporting local communities, UK universities played a critical role in fighting Covid-19.
The pandemic disrupted public life in ways never before seen in peacetime. Almost immediately, universities and their communities began responding to the crisis.
We launched #WeAreTogether in April 2020 to showcase the ways universities have helped during the pandemic.
Campaign highlights
How universities helped the national effort
There were so many examples from across the country of how universities did all they could to contribute to the national effort against the outbreak.
As the UK went into lockdown, universities, their staff and students stepped up to contribute to research, offer support, and help people through the crisis.
Research
Mathematical modelling work from Imperial College London helped inform both the UK and US government’s response to the pandemic, providing vital insights into the nature of the outbreak, its spread, and risk.
SOAS University of London experts shared their expertise, skills and knowledge to make sense of what was happening on a global scale and contribute towards the response.
Resources and people power
Swansea University students and staff produced 3D printed face shields to help the NHS and frontline workers.
Cardiff Metropolitan University’s estates team set up a temporary blood centre in partnership with the Welsh Blood Service after donations dropped by 20%.
The University of Hertfordshire produced hand sanitiser to bolster NHS and social care supplies.
Medical and nursing students from Queen’s University Belfast stepped up to the call to work on the front line to help tackle coronavirus.
Helping people get through it
The Open University offered free resources through OpenLearn, including over 950 short courses and thousands of articles, quizzes and interactive games for free. There’s even a course specifically on Coronavirus.
Edge Hill University launched a learning hub to help schools and families through the pandemic.
Nottingham Trent University donated all the produce from its vertical farm to help feed the homeless during the Covid-19 pandemic. Boxes of vegetables and herbs were given to Tracy’s Street Kitchen, a small team of chefs who make and give out meals for people living on the streets.
Supporting students
The University of York launched an Emergency Student Support Fund in response to the pandemic. The fund is being supported through donations from alumni, friends, and supporters of the university, and provides bursaries of up to £500 for students facing unanticipated financial challenges due to Covid-19.
The University of Surrey extended its student financial hardship fund, with additional support for widening participation students. It also ran the Emergency Student Support Appeal, designed to support students adversely affected by Covid-19.
Students and staff volunteering
Launched on 30 June 2020, Proud to Help shone a spotlight on the individual staff and students who went the extra mile to help others during the pandemic.
This stage of the campaign gave us an opportunity to thank all the staff and students at UK universities who have stepped up, volunteered, fundraised, and so much more during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Katie Dixon, a nursing student from Birmingham City University set up a volunteering group to help vulnerable members of her community.
Floyd Haughton, a student at Cardiff Metropolitan University gifted hearty Jamaican inspired meals to key workers
Paul Josse, a Technical Manager at Brunel University London tirelessly led a project to 3D-print thousands of face shields.
Obinna Okeke from the University of Hertfordshire finished his placement and joined the London Ambulance Service.
WeAreTogether: international
The international strand of the #WeAreTogether campaign was created to provide reassurance and support to prospective EU and international students to continue with their plans to study with a UK university.
The campaign was student-led, with current international students giving their honest views on their experience of studying at a UK university during the pandemic. The campaign delivered more than 100 student testimony videos, achieving more than 22 million video views in total. These videos were showcased on the WeAreTogether Instagram page as well as individual university social media pages.
From a survey of more than 2,000 prospective international students, 67% said that #WeAreTogether had made them feel more confident to continue their plans to study in the UK.
The #WeAreTogether campaign won ‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’ at the PIEoneer Awards in September 2021.
