More than 200 students have returned to Falmouth and Penryn over the last few days in violation of Government guidance and the universities' own instructions, it has been claimed.

The Packet has been told that students were being dropped off to the accommodation blocks at the Tremough Campus over the last couple of days and were continuing to arrive yesterday (Tuesday) despite the country now being under a third national lockdown.

One man, who said he was an employee of the university, told the Packet: "I've been working in an area of the university for the last few days and I've counted 230 in cars and dropped by parents.

"I left campus about ten minutes ago and saw another lot being dropped off."

He said this was in spite of "numerous emails from senior management teams" being sent recently.

The employee said that he had raised the matter but claimed: "They shrugged their shoulders and said there's nothing they can do about it."

He went on to add: "This could be the difference between a very severe rise or not at all."

The arrival of the students goes against both the Government guidance updated on Monday and also instructions put out by Falmouth University over the weekend, before the announcement of the lockdown.

A statement told students 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 were emailed warning them not to return yet, with further information posted to the university's website.

This stated: "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."

Students were also warned: "You should not travel back to Falmouth until the Government has announced that this will be permitted."

The Packet has contacted the university's communications team for a response to the students now arriving, but has been unable to reach anyone.

The University of Exeter, which also has a small number of courses based on the Tremough Campus, has put out the same advice to students.

A spokesperson for the university said: "There are various reasons why students may be on campus. For example, some – including a proportion of international students – have remained there over the Christmas break.

"A small proportion of students on specific courses will return to campuses in the coming weeks. Students who do not study these courses should remain where they are wherever possible, and start their term online.

"Details of these courses and all our latest guidance are available at www.exeter.ac.uk/coronavirus/latest"

The latest government guidance now is that the vast majority of students should remain where they are and start the term online, until at least mid-February.

The only exceptions to this are students in medicine and dentistry, subjects allied to medicine/health, veterinary science, education (initial teacher training), social work and courses which require professional, statutory and regulatory body (PSRB) assessments and or mandatory activity scheduled for January and that cannot be rescheduled – which the university will notify students of.

In these circumstances students must be tested twice, upon arrival, or self-isolate for ten days. Students on other practical courses not listed should remain where they are.