Our expectation for the 2021 / 22 academic year is that all LSE students will be in London and studying on campus, where many of your learning experiences will be in-person, supplemented by some online elements. This approach has been informed by our student and academic community, building upon the innovations and improvements we have put in place over the past year.

From the start of Michaelmas Term 2021, we anticipate the following to be in place:

• We will deliver all compulsory teaching and learning activity in person, including seminars, tutorials, workshops, classes and Harvard style teaching sessions. However, there may be occasional rare circumstances which must be well-justified where we may need to move an activity online.
• We are not planning to have mandated social distancing in classrooms. However, we are prepared to reintroduce this if the need arises.
• The standard expectation is that other types of staff-student engagement will take place in-person on campus. These include office hours, academic mentoring and dissertation / thesis supervision.
• Some other aspects of your programme may also be online but when this happens, we will always prioritise on-campus opportunities for interactive engagement.

Lecture arrangements for Michaelmas Term 2021

• Lectures, which are non-compulsory, will normally be delivered online - either synchronously or asynchronously. We will aim to deliver a small number of lectures in-person.
• All lectures, whether in-person or online, will be recorded for your benefit
• It may be possible to deliver more lectures in-person in Lent Term and we will continue to explore this
• This approach towards lectures means that, should we need to reintroduce social distancing measures, we would be able to continue providing face-to-face class and seminar teaching for a much larger number of courses in-person on campus. This will also enable us to use these spaces for community building, networking activities as well as peer and faculty engagement while these measures are not in place.

Coming to campus for Michaelmas Term 2021

• We expect new students to join us on campus in London for the start of Welcome, Monday 20 September. Term starts on Monday 27 September.
• However, we understand that due to exceptional circumstances outside of your control, such as visas or local COVID challenges, you may not be able to arrive at this time.
• If this is the case, we will continue to support you remotely during the first few weeks of term before your arrival. We will aim to offer hybrid teaching to ensure your experience at LSE is maintained despite other delays outside of your control.
• You will still need to come to London for your studies which will include in-person components for all students, and you should aim to arrive within a few weeks of the start of term, enrolling by 22 October at the latest. 
  
  The School may be able to offer some flexibility to this deadline for students who face significant extenuating circumstances beyond their control. If you think your arrival at LSE might be delayed by a few days beyond 22 October, as a result of significant extenuating circumstances, please contact your department. 

Maintaining a low-risk environment and preparing for future scenarios

• We will continue to monitor the situation and may extend the COVID-secure measures that we currently have in place or introduce further protocols if required, such as mask wearing in classrooms and lifts and negative testing requirements to enter LSE buildings.
• All staff and students will be strongly encouraged to wear masks in LSE buildings particularly in high-traffic or confined areas
• We strongly encourage all new and continuing students to get fully vaccinated, if you are not already. We are working on plans to offer on-campus vaccinations via our St Phillips Medical Centre.
• To support students arriving from overseas, over the summer we will also be introducing Day 2 and Day 8 testing, to help students comply with government-imposed testing requirements for international travellers. At this stage, we do not expect to be able to provide managed quarantine facilities (“hotel quarantine”) for arrivals from countries included on the government’s red list for travel.
• We are also preparing for a range of scenarios that will allow us to flex our approach to teaching and learning swiftly and with minimum disruption to our community, should we need to respond to changing health advice over the winter months. You can read more about this in the accordion below and we will continue to keep our community updated as we progress towards the start of term and beyond. 

We hope that programmes beginning in September 2022 will be unaffected by Coronavirus. If there are going to be any changes to the delivery of the programme we will update this page to reflect the amendments and all offer holders will be notified.  

The most up-to-date LSE Coronavirus: community advice and guidance and information about LSE's teaching plans for 2021 can be found on our website.

LSE is putting in place comprehensive health and safety measures on campus to keep you safe and secure while on campus and in the halls of residence.

We hope that London does not experience another lockdown in the 2021-22 academic year. However, we are also preparing for a range of scenarios that will allow us to flex our approach to teaching and learning swiftly with the minimum disruption to our community, should we need to respond to changing health advice over the winter months.

If we are required to reintroduce social distancing we could pivot a minority of in-person classes and seminars online to ensure the majority of face-to-face teaching can continue in a safely distanced and secure environment.

If we are no longer permitted to teach in-person on campus for a period of time, all teaching and learning will pivot online, similar to Lent and Summer Terms 2021 where we kept campus open as much as possible.

A key aspect of planning for all scenarios is keeping lectures normally online in Michaelmas Term.

Below is a summary of the actions the School could take in the event of further COVID disruption:

• Issue clear guidance from the School and your department regarding the plans for teaching, learning and support;
• Implement government advice regarding student and staff access to campus;
• Provide lectures online;
• Pivot in-person teaching to synchronous and asynchronous online provision using the mechanisms in place in 2020/21 to support those students unable travel to campus;
• Deliver departmental teaching materials via Moodle;
• Provide support services remotely, via Zoom, Teams, email, telephone, Livechat, etc. 
• Provide support and guidance for your health and well-being via Zoom appointments and web-based information;
• Continue office hours with class teachers and academic mentors online;
• Maintain access to the online Library materials;
• Deliver department-appropriate assessments online, taking into account the specific needs of quantitative and qualitative programmes;
• Provide support and advice to students resident in LSE and UoL halls of residence; 
• Make available hardship funds for vulnerable students adversely affected by the pandemic;
• Offer practical guidance and adopt a sympathetic approach to students seeking to interrupt or defer their studies.

There are a number of enhanced health and safety measures in place on campus and in halls of residence to help make LSE COVID-secure. This includes social distancing, COVID-19 testing, mandatory wearing of face coverings in School buildings and designated campus areas (unless exempt) and our LSE Track and Trace system. 

Please visit our COVID-19 FAQ page for current LSE students for more detailed information. 

Offer holders with long-term conditions who have questions or concerns about their wellbeing whilst studying at LSE are welcome to contact the Disability and Wellbeing Service.

Traffic light system

Currently, a red, amber, green traffic light system is in use across the UK to guide what you must do before and on your arrival into the UK.

You must follow the guidance on international travel and quarantine as appropriate when travelling to the UK.

It’s important that you understand what entry requirements you will need to adhere to when travelling from another country into the UK, particularly if you will be travelling from a red- or amber- listed country.

Travel to the UK is permitted for those entering on a Student Visa. This applies to all countries including those on the red list.

Please follow the latest government guidance published on the gov.uk website.

Latest government guidance on entry to the UK

Red, amber and green list rules for entering and quarantine in the UK

Travelling from/through a ‘red list’ country

All international arrivals coming into UK airports from red-listed countries must now book and pay for managed isolation in quarantine hotels to help protect against the importation of COVID-19.

Information on which countries are on the UK's 'red list' can be found on the UK government website.

If you are arriving into the UK, regardless of your final destination within the UK, and have visited or passed through a red list country, you will be required to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel. You will need to book and pay for this independently using the link below.

Booking a quarantine hotel

The Managed Quarantine Package costs £2,285 for a single person and includes 10 full days (11 nights) including food, beverages, transfers, security and 2 Covid tests.

Updates to the ‘red list’

The following countries will move from the UK government’s travel ‘red list’  to the ‘amber list’ at 4 am on Wednesday 22 September:

Bangladesh, Egypt, Kenya, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey

If you have booked a place in a Managed Quarantine Facility hotel for 22 September or afterwards, please contact CTM, the booking agency, directly at

• Phone: +44(0) 207 429 9732
• Email: quarantine.hotels@travelctm.com

If you are arriving into the UK from an amber or green list country and have not been in a red list country for 10 or more days prior to your arrival in the UK you are not required to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel.

26 July 2021

Applying for deferred payment for hotel quarantine

If you will find it difficult to pay for the Managed Quarantine Package fee immediately, you can apply for ‘deferred payment due to financial hardship’ as a student with a visa to study in the UK. To find out how to do this, please click on the link at the very bottom of the quarantine hotel booking page. This is the section of the Booking page which says: If you are facing financial hardship and unable to pay immediately - find more details here.

On arrival, you must quarantine in the hotel you’ve booked for 10 days. If you test positive for COVID-19 while in quarantine, you may need to quarantine for longer.

You should book your quarantine package in good time so that you can campus enrol at LSE for the start of your studies.

Means-tested financial support for students from red list countries

LSE has a means-tested In-Course Support fund available for registered students who face unexpected financial hardship once they have enrolled at the School. 

LSE students from red-listed countries who face financial difficulties, as a result of paying for the hotel quarantine arrangements, can apply for a £700 award towards these costs. These awards will be means-tested and students can apply once you have completed your quarantine period and have campus-enrolled at LSE.

Details of how to apply will be published in August.

2 August 2021

It is really important that you get the COVID-19 vaccination when you are offered it. The vaccine offers you the best protection against catching the virus and is one of the best ways to help stop the pandemic.

The UK government does not require students to have had a COVID-19 vaccination before entering the UK and LSE does not require students to have had a COVID-19 vaccination before arriving on campus. However, if you are able to get the vaccination in your home town or country before travelling to London for the start of term we strongly encourage you to do that.

The UK is now offering vaccinations to everyone over 18 at local sites run by General Practitioners (doctors) or community pharmacies, at larger vaccination centres and in some hospitals. If you are unable to get your vaccination before you arrive at LSE you should do so as soon as possible after you arrive.

Information on how students can get their COVID vaccination can be found on this NHS FAQs for students in higher education institutions. 

23 June 2021

Following the cancellation of this year’s summer exams, Ofqual and the Department for Education have announced that grades will be based on teacher assessment, with teachers supported in making decisions with guidance and training from exam boards.We will use these grades as the basis for our confirmation decisions. In the meantime, we continue to work with UCAS, exam boards, schools and the rest of the university sector to make the necessary arrangements for our offer holders and to communicate information to you on a regular basis.

We are also closely monitoring the situation with schools overseas and their exam boards. We appreciate that this is a frustrating and anxious time for our offer holders but please be assured we are doing all we can to support you and to develop processes in this fast moving situation.

Please refer to the publications on the gov.uk website for more information relating to the awarding of GCSE, AS and A level qualifications in the academic year 2020 to 2021.