FAQs for students

All LSE buildings are now open. You can view our campus map at this link. 

All buildings are open 8am-10pm every day, with following exceptions:

• LSE Library: open 24/7
• Saw Swee Hock Student Centre (SAW): Monday to Friday, 7am-10pm, 8am-10pm at weekends.

LSE and LSESU facilities that are open now 

Campus cafés 

• Beveridge Café: 9.30am-6.30pm Monday to Friday (ground floor, Centre Building)
• The Shaw Café: 9am-4pm, Monday to Friday (ground floor, NAB)
• Plaza Café: 10.30am-7.30pm, Monday to Thursday and 10.30am-5.30pm on Fridays.

Other LSE facilities

• The Faith Centre: use of the main Faith Centre space is limited to individual worship. Please get in touch with the Faith Centre team if you have any questions.
• LSE Merchandise Shop: orders can be placed online for home delivery and for Click and Collect (save on postage cost if you are on campus. Place the order online and collect from the LSE General Store between 10am-2pm Monday to Friday).
• Microwaves are available on the second floor of the SAW.

All water fountains will be closed until further notice - please remember to refill your water bottle before arriving on campus.

LSESU

• The Three Tuns: 3-10pm, Monday - Friday. The Three Tuns is currently operating as an outdoor space, in line with government guidelines. You'll need to book a table which can be done by emailing su.info@lse.ac.uk. Indoor dining/drinking will re-open on 17 May providing government guidelines allows us to do so.
• LSESU gym: 7am-7pm, Monday - Friday, 10am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday. You will need to book a slot to use the gym via the the MyWellness App (iOS and Android).

Remember, you can still access most SU services virtually - take a look at the LSESU website for more information.

Staying safe on campus

You must continue to follow the COVID-secure measures on campus to look after yourself and others. You'll need to socially distance, wear a mask in LSE buildings, sanitise your hands, and not gather in groups of more than six outdoors until the rules change. You will need a recent negative COVID test result to enter most buildings on campus.

Access requirements

You'll need your LSE ID and proof of a negative COVID test. If you don't have a current LSE ID, you’ll just need to bring your Certificate of Registration or Enrolment Pass to access buildings on campus. Should you need to, you can request a Certificate of Registration at this link. 

The UK government advice is that you should not travel, and that all students and staff should stay at their place of current residence. This is important to prevent further spread of the virus.

We recognise that there may be some exceptional circumstances where you need to travel to your term time address if you are not resident there currently, including:

• You do not have suitable study conditions at your non-term time address 
• There are wellbeing or health matters which mean you need to return to your term time address 
• You have already arrived in the UK to satisfy quarantine requirements for the start of term. The test to release scheme may reduce the length of this period. 
• You have stayed at your term time address over the break.  

 If you are returning to an LSE hall due to one of the reasons above, please notify residences via Hallpad of your return date, so they can support your return safely.

On Tuesday 13 April, the UK government announced its plan for higher education, confirming that indoors in-person activity will not be able to resume until 17 May at the earliest. This was followed by a message to students from the Universities Minister, Michelle Donelan, with further explanation of the situation.

While we are very disappointed to not be able to resume indoors in-person activity at this stage, we are actively planning ways to safely support your assessment preparations on campus and remotely, continue with our outdoors in-person activities while also preparing for indoors in-person activities to take place from 17 May, restrictions permitting.

We will provide more details about what we are planning over the coming weeks

Campus enrollment is currently paused and will re-open from 5 May. You can find out more about campus enrolment at this link.

Remember, you can still access LSE buildings using your Certificate of Registration or Enrolment Pass before you have your LSE ID card. You can request a Certificate of Registration at this link. 

Yes - students and staff coming to LSE's campus to access facilities must be tested twice a week for COVID-19. This is in line with government guidance, and is required to access buildings on campus.

More information on testing and booking is available online. 

I have already tested positive for COVID-19, and have completed my self-isolation, do I need to take another test? 

If you are planning to come to campus and have had COVID-19 in the past 90 days, you must ensure that you have followed all self-isolation protocols and that you are well before you come to campus. You will still need to take a rapid test before accessing facilities to show that you do not currently have COVID-19. 

Experts advise not to take another PCR test within 90 days of your first positive test as individuals who have recovered may continue to shed fragments of virus (these fragments cannot transmit the disease) in sufficient quantities to test positive again. 

The rules for travelling to the UK  changed on 15 February, and what you need to do will depend on where you are arriving from and which countries you have travelled through. 

More information about quarantine and testing on arrival to the UK can be found on our Getting tested webpage.

 LSE is committed to offering you the best possible teaching and learning experience within the constraints of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 
 
Our expectation for the 2021-22 academic year is that all LSE students will be in London and studying on campus, where we will provide flexible teaching and learning which blends both in-person and online elements. This flexible approach has been informed by our student and academic community and builds upon the innovations and improvements we have put in place over the past year. 
 
We aim to run in-person teaching for the vast majority of seminars and classes, alongside face-to-face community-building and networking activities. You will also have opportunities to interact with fellow students and academic faculty outside of the classroom in LSE’s many social spaces, halls of residence, cafés and Students’ Union societies. The Library, support services and all campus buildings will be open for you to use and enjoy. 
 
Larger group teaching, such as lectures, will be largely delivered online, either synchronously or asynchronously. Some other aspects of your programme may also be online but, when this happens, we will always prioritise opportunities for interactive engagement between students. Department and programme teams will develop the balance of their teaching, learning and assessment to enable you to learn effectively and benefit from your programmes of study. It may be possible to deliver more lectures in-person in the Lent Term.  
 
Students are expected to arrive in London from the start of their programme for in-person teaching. However, some students may, exceptionally, not be able to arrive in London at the start of their studies due to coronavirus travel restrictions. If this were to affect you, we will support you by offering flexible arrangements at the beginning of Michaelmas Term. However, students should aim to arrive in London as soon as possible to join their programmes for in-person teaching.  
 
We expect the government to share more guidance about social distancing and COVID safety measures in the coming weeks as we follow the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown. Our priority remains the health and wellbeing of our community and our flexible approach to teaching and learning means that we will be able to flex and adapt our campus to the evolving COVID situation. We will provide further updates on our approach to teaching and learning as government advice is issued.

England is currently in Phase 2 of the easing of national restrictions. This means that you can meet in groups of six or no more than two households outside only. 

Find out more information on the UK government website.

As part of these restrictions, all teaching and learning in higher education institutions must take place online.

It's essential to follow UK and LSE rules, to help us return to in-person activities when it is safe to do so. We all have a role to play and everyone’s efforts can make a huge difference.

Take a look at our self-isolation guidance for information and support if you need to self-isolate.

If you're staying in halls, our halls of residence webpages provide more information on the health and safety measures we have put in place for COVID-19.

Our International Student Visa Advice Team (ISVAT) have a dedicated FAQ page for coronavirus (COVID-19) immigration advice for current and prospective students.

If your question is not answered in their FAQs, use their query form to contact the team for advice.

The School does not alter the Conditions of Registration very often. We have set out in the updated Conditions some of the scenarios where it may be necessary to do this: in particular, we are mindful that government advice and guidance from regulatory bodies may change over time, as the pandemic evolves.

The health and wellbeing of our student community is our top priority and therefore it may be necessary to adjust the Conditions once again. We will always make every effort to keep changes to a minimum and to notify students in good time of any changes that are going to be made.

For the remainder of the 2020/21 academic year, all compulsory teaching, learning and assessments, including those taking place in Summer Term 2021, will be delivered online.

This includes revision sessions in Summer Term. Get in touch with your department, academic mentor or course convenor if you are not sure about teaching and learning in the coming weeks. 

All students will have the opportunity to work together between classes in Peer Study Groups on tasks or activities (academic and social).

We aim to timetable classes/seminars during regular hours on weekdays as far as possible. We will only schedule classes/seminars in the evenings and weekends when there is no other option. 

Where possible, we aim to ensure that the classes/seminars scheduled in the evenings and at weekends have alternative classes/seminars timetabled during weekday hours.

For undergraduate classes in which we can achieve this (keeping in mind that we will not be able to achieve this for all courses), you should be able to request a change to your allocated class via LSE for You. For graduate seminars, you should be able to select an appropriately timed group via LSE for You or via your department where possible.

Experts in our Eden Centre for Education Enhancement have guided the development of our flexible approach to teaching and learning to ensure that you benefit from LSE’s high standards in education in a safe environment.

Our flexible teaching approach will be subject to our stringent quality assurance processes, ensuring that there is no compromise on the rigour or standard of LSE degrees.

We will continue to apply our validation, monitoring and review mechanisms to assure the quality of our courses and programmes.

We have had to make significant changes to teaching and learning for this academic year, to accommodate new ways of teaching and learning in light of ongoing COVID-19 measures. This means that alongside putting in additional health and wellbeing measures on campus to keep our community safe, we have had to temporarily reduce the number of courses we can offer.

We have made these changes due to the following factors: 

• From the start of the 2020/21 academic year, we will be observing social distancing protocols, which reduces the maximum in-person class sizes
• To ensure equitable access to course for all students, we aim to run each seminar or class twice. This is to accommodate students who may not be able to access a class due to time zone differences, or for students who may have caring responsibilities.

These changes mean that we have fewer available teaching spaces and greater timetabling pressures, which is why are reducing the number of courses available to students this year.  

This has not been an easy decision to make, and we know that students appreciate the variety of courses that LSE offers. Departments have considered carefully which course to continue offering, and which ones to suspend. Departments have kept the course offering as varied as possible, to allow you to select courses to create a pathway through your degree programme that suits you.

Your health and safety is paramount. Across campus and halls of residences we have introduced enhanced health and safety measures. Where appropriate it is likely that we will go beyond government guidance, based on scientific advice and the expertise of our academic faculty. 

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, everyone on campus must adhere to the following requirements:

Universal Face Coverings: everyone must wear a face covering over the nose and mouth in School buildings, and in designated campus areas when others are present unless they are exempt from doing so for medical or disability related reasons.

Social Distancing: classrooms, study spaces and communal areas have been reconfigured to provide at least the government recommended distance between people, and while on campus, everyone is expected to maintain this recommended physical distance from others where possible.

Self-Monitoring: anyone coming to campus must self-monitor for symptoms and stay at home if they have potentially been exposed to COVID-19 or have had any symptoms over the past two weeks. Anyone with symptoms should self-isolate and get tested for coronavirus. For further guidance on symptoms and related matters please see this NHS page.

Track and Trace: we ask that you use our LSE Trace system to enable us to look after your health, safety and wellbeing, as well as that of other members of our community.

COVID-19 Reporting: If you test positive for COVID-19 you must self-isolate as per the NHS guidance and inform the School via our LSE trace system as soon as possible.

The Library is open every day, 24/7. However, anyone coming to campus must get tested twice a week, and have received a recent negative test before accessing facilities. 

We have been working to increase the number of resources available online, to enhance all students’ access to Library materials and we will continue to add to these collections through the academic year. You can also access one-to-one support, to help you get the most from the Library and its resources.

Find out more about COVID and how to access Library resources, both online and in-person.

There are lots of ways you can get involved with the Students’ Union this year. Visit the LSESU website for information on what's on and how to join in.

We know your experience at LSE is shaped outside of the classroom too, and we will offer you a range of exciting opportunities to develop skills and try new things. 

These include giving back through volunteering, developing your entrepreneurial ideas via LSE Generate, shaping your community through LSE Students’ Union activities and societies and our new online public lecture programme. You can also access thriving regional alumni groups too, which operate across the globe.

We are committed to working in partnership with you to enhance your experiences and Disability and Wellbeing Services, Careers, Student Advice and LSE LIFE will continue to be available to guide you through the next academic year and beyond through excellent online and in-person services where possible.

We are working hard to keep our community safe, well and supported as we have put in place a range of measures to help make LSE COVID-secure. 
 
However, it is important that students who are ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ and students who live with someone who is ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ read and follow the advice available on the NHS website. 
 
If you are ‘clinically vulnerable’, or live with someone who is clinically vulnerable, you should also read and follow the advice available on the NHS website.

If you would like to speak to a member of staff about your wellbeing on campus please contact the Disability and Wellbeing Service by emailing disabilitydyslexia@lse.ac.uk.

LSE has undertaken extensive and rigourous risk assessments and health and safety assessments on all rooms and communal areas of the LSE campus. 

The measures we are putting in place are designed to keep our community as safe as possible. We are unapologetic about the fact that we will sometimes go beyond UK government guidance on social distancing or the use of face coverings to ensure our campus is safe. 

If you're exempt from wearing a face mask, then you'll need to register as exempt with the Student Wellbeing Service and display an identifying sticker on your LSE ID card. Find out more about registering and collecting your sticker on the student mask exemptions webpage.