Universities should return to face-to-face teaching when students return this month, the Education Secretary has said.
A record number of 18-year-olds from the UK are set to start university this autumn.
During the covid pandemic, universities moved to a mainly online teaching style for the previous academic year, however, Education Minister Gavin Williamson has urged for a return to regular teaching.
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Speaking via video link to a conference at Northumbria University, Mr Williamson said: "I do not expect to see online learning used as a cost-cutting measure.
“While the switch to online teaching was a necessary and vital way of keeping young people learning in as safe a way as possible, we have now moved on and students quite rightly expect that they can study in person alongside other students,
“Imagine trying to make sense of the subtleties of interpreting Chekov for the stage or carrying out complex molecular biology techniques over Zoom. I for one would need the full benefit of that in-person, world-class teaching that you and your members can rightly be so proud of.”
Mr Williamson added that it would be "odd" for students to be able to attend social activities such as nightclubs, but still had to go to online lectures.
A number of universities had suggested that they would be undergoing a ‘blended learning’ style for the upcoming academic year, however, the Education Secretary said this should only be done when there is a genuine benefit to using online learning.
Mr Williamson said it would be okay to stay online when there’s a “genuine benefit to using technology.”
Steve West, the President of Universities UK, defended the use of online learning, saying: “To politicians and commentators who have asked: 'Why not everything in person?' I respectfully point out that the move of some teaching, learning and assessment online was already happening pre-Covid.”
Last month, Liverpool John Moores University said that they were looking forward to having students return to their campus: “It has been a really difficult year for everyone in education…That’s why we are looking forward to seeing so many of them on campus in September.”
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