Not a single soul could have foreseen the unprecedented events of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 128,000 recorded deaths in the UK as of today, and many more affected by the adverse repercussions of Long COVID. After taking a step back, I believe that lots more could have been done to support university students, with the issues surrounding them being "swept under the rug" for the most part.
When I began my Journalism and Communications course in 2018, I was blown away by the facilities and activities that Cardiff University had to offer. I remember walking in to my school building and being mesmerised by the extensive expertise of the staff and the impressive range of technology on offer to students. The lecture hall was massive, the staff were always available, and the course material was very interesting. If anything, I was surprised that my £9,000 loan was the price tag - it almost felt too low!
This great sense of involvement was coupled with the fantastic social life that coincides with the university experience. I joined Cardiff University Rugby Football Club within the first few weeks, and to this day, it's the best thing I've ever done. The comradery, the sense of belonging, the fun that was had, it was something I'll never forget. I made friends for life, and it's probably what kept me going through the pandemic if I'm truthful. But when I think of my time at Cardiff University, I can't help but feel that after lockdown was announced on 23rd March 2020, that I was being short-changed. There's always that niggling feeling (even before lockdown) that £45,000 worth of debt is a lot. Without a doubt, you are expecting to get high-level education in exchange for a large sum of money, that's the deal. But after lockdown began, I don't believe that that was consistent.
Zoom
Firstly, let me just admit that there was no alternative. Online classes were essential for students to enlist the help of their lecturers and seminar leaders. Nonetheless, the way in which they were used was, in my opinion, poor. Instead of creating captivating spaces where students were able to discuss ideas and topics, I felt as if they were instead used to talk at students instead of with them. Part of the blame lies with the students (myself included) for a lack of commitment to the calls. Cameras off, microphones muted, ideas left to the imagination of the seminar leader. There was a plethora of silence in each call. It left me disappointed, so much so that I left some Zoom calls midway through. Instead, I believed that a classroom-style approach would have been better in solving this issue. No more waiting for students to come out from their holes, turning their cameras on and unmuting their microphones; instead there should have been initiative taken by seminar leaders to call names and invite them to speak. After all, most students won't be willing to speak if they don't have to/aren't forced to because they're too hungover.
I remember in my first ever lecture back in 2018, one of the lecturers quoted an old academic which read something along the lines of "if you aren't being morally and academically challenged at university, then there is truly no point you being there". This stuck with me as I sat there in a Zoom meeting, as I thought about how I wasn't being challenged in any facet of my course. All that was happening was the seminar groups being talked at, so that we could pass our assignments and receive our degrees. In one aspect, it wasn't the fault of the staff, because the students should have taken more initiative to speak. Another aspect of it though, was myself hoping that the staff would guide students and coerce them in to providing answers, which could then encourage a better space of conversation. It didn't have to be perfect, as Zoom calls would never have been the same as face-to-face interaction.
Compensation
The agreement when I arrived at university was that I paid £9,000 in tuition fees a year for top-level education. This simply wasn't the case in my 3rd year. It is still bewildering to me that there wasn't, and still isn't, any conversation about the tuition fees being discounted. Whenever I watched the news, be it BBC or ITV or whatever else, there was no mention of students or the issues that we struggled with throughout the year. I understand there were much bigger fish to fry, such as the NHS, or the inevitable economic collapse. But would a small story at the end of a 6 o'clock broadcast hurt? Just the one? Even now, as we are coming towards the back end of the pandemic, there is still very little mention of students being ripped off. The repetition of completing assessments was almost dystopian! Complete the task, drink beers in your house, go to bed, wake up, start your next one. It's no wonder that 73% of students said that they experienced worse mental health during lockdown according to a survey conducted by Mind UK. I know that most people's reaction to this would be "get on with it" or "there's people worse off" and actually, I agree with this sentiment. However, this is not what university was advertised as, and this isn't time that we can ever get back. Therefore, I think that financial compensation is what is needed, not that the government or universities care about that sort of thing.
Summary
To be honest, do I expect anything to happen? God no. We're going to have to suck it up and "get on with it". All I ask is that students receive some sort of respite for the time that we will never get again, whether that is financial or sympathetic. We have been a forgotten cohort amongst all of this, and I wish this wasn't the case. Again, let me reiterate that I don't think that students' issues should be considered important issues, because they're most definitely not. I just wanted to make sure that our side of the story is represented, as the media and government have failed to display our issues effectively.
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