Falmouth University has banned students from returning to campus until at least the last week of January.

It follows a statement from Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on Wednesday, in which he urged universities to delay the return of students, to help prevent the further spread of coronavirus around the country.

He encouraged universities to prioritise those needing practical experience and said that at all students should be offered two rapid tests on return.

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Falmouth University has since issued a statement to say that that following Government advice on December 30, the return to its campuses at Tremough and Woodlane had been paused until January 25 "at the earliest", in order to help minimise the movement of people and slow the spread of the virus.

Staff and students have been emailed warning them not to return yet, with further information posted to the university's website.

This states: "The Government has announced that, in order to minimise the movement of people and limit the spread of the virus, only a very small number of students should currently be allowed to return to campus.

"Therefore, no Falmouth University students are permitted to return to campus until January 25 at the earliest.

"We hope that we will be able to begin teaching for Study Block 2 in a blended way as planned on January 25, but you should wait for this to be confirmed before arranging your travel.

"All face-to-face enhancement activity planned for January, including the physical events as part of the Workshops Festival, has, unfortunately, been cancelled."

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The Government has said it will review its decision over schools and universities in the week commencing January 18 and students have been been told they will be updated as soon as possible after this, but warned: "You should not travel back to Falmouth until the Government has announced that this will be permitted."

This includes international students where possible, and those who have already begun their journey or cannot change their travel plans have been told to follow the current rulings of completing a passenger locator form on arrival in the UK, with students travelling from a country not on the exemption list needing to self-isolate in their accommodation for ten days.

The university also said that, as per Government warnings, all students should get a test before accessing campus facilities when they do eventually return, and to minimise social contact until a negative test result has been confirmed.

Anyone who does not book a test should self-isolate for ten days after arriving back at university.