After a year of online teaching, students from the University of Bristol are descending on the city en masse this weekend.
Around 75 per cent of applicants to Bristol University met their offer this year, versus 46 per cent in a normal year, following the new system of teacher-assessed A-Level results.
With huge numbers of students arriving this weekend, the annual chaos on the roads is expected.
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The Great Bristol Run is also taking place in the city centre on Sunday (19th), with rolling road closures expected throughout the day, compounding the expected traffic challenges.
Thousands of first-year students have arrived this week and will be continuing to arrive over the weekend.
Traffic around Clifton Downs is expected to be busy ahead of Bristol University’s Welcome Week, which starts on Monday morning with welcome talks.
30 halls of residence are spread across Stoke Bishop, Clifton, and the City Centre for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The biggest concentration is in Stoke Bishop where around 5,000 students are housed in six halls of residence.
Bristol University’s student population grew from 18,770 in 2011 to 29,356 last year, marking a huge increase over the last decade that is set to continue with a new campus planned next to Temple Meads station.
In-person welcome events are taking place throughout the week, with Bristol SU returning to in-person welcome events, finishing with a grand finale next Friday with a club night at Motion.
Housing Shortage
Bristol University has confirmed to Bristol Live that around 100 students will be housed in Bath. It was initially thought that 300 students would need to be housed outside of Bristol, but that number has been reduced.
Bath city leaders responded angrily to the news last month, saying in a statement that they were “alarmed and concerned” that students could not be housed in their own city.
A spokesperson blamed a huge increase in undergraduate students making Bristol their first choice this year, as well as the introduction of teacher-assessed grades.
The university has also announced that an undergraduate hall of residence is not yet ready, with students to be housed in hotels in Bristol city centre for the second year running.
A spokesperson said that they were only informed by the private developers of the property last week that the hall would not be ready on time, adding that they are “disappointed that this has happened and are sorry for the inconvenience and disruption.”
Students have been reassured that they will be provided with both breakfast and dinner each day, and the cost of laundry service will be covered by the developers.
Welcome Week
Students are returning to in-person teaching this year, and with that comes in-person events, including club nights, with the grand finale taking place at Motion on Thursday.
Students are being encouraged to take lateral flow Covid-19 tests before arrival, but vaccination is not mandatory for Bristol students.
Face-coverings are no longer required by law, but the university says that they “expect and encourage” students to wear a face-covering “as a sign of respect”.
With students returning to the city, there are fears that Covid cases could skyrocket as a result.
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