To feel really sad about this? 😥

[25carrotgold]

So I started University in the September before covid started. We had the first semester as normal and then obviously the second semester was cut short because of covid.

Ever since then, lectures have been online. We were lucky that when University started again in September we were able to go in for the occasional practical or lab, unlike other courses, but it’s not the same as being in all the time. We only see a very small number of coursemates who are in our groups, and apart from that we don’t really know the rest of our year as we barely had 2 semesters to get to know everyone before covid started.

I have a nice group of friends and know of most of my coursemates through our course group chat, but it’s not the same really. Part of going to university is meeting lots of new people, nights out, going for lunch after classes, studying in the library and hanging out. It’s the social side that’s completely missing. All the clubs and societies were restricted or stopped if they couldn’t be run. And since they’ve been off for a few years, there’s no new members to take over so a lot of clubs won’t start up again for a while.

its just all the little things like that that add up to the ‘university experience’ and I feel so sad that it hasn’t happened- going in for 2 hours a week for a class just isn’t the same.

in some ways it has been better having lectures online- it’s easier to take notes, more time to work and do sports, less money and time commuting to Uni, but it would be nice to have a normal year now before we finish. We are going into our last year and my friends have apparently been told that lectures will remain online again this year- we will have more in-person tutorials and practical classes so it’s not terrible, but I was really hoping for a year of normal university experiences.

I know that the University are trying their best and it’s not their fault, and with covid spreading again it will be trickier still, but I just feel so sad about it all. Just needed to get this off my chest, sorry not really an AIBU.

That is very poor

What do fellow students think, can you let the university know it’s not good

I wonder which universities are still doing this

I work at a university and we're back fully on campus (although students can choose fully online or blended online/in person learning if they prefer). As far as I'm aware this is now fairly standard and there are very few universities that are fully online for all the reasons you've mentioned.

Have you spoken to your course tutor/student union/ course rep about it? Remember university is a service that you're paying (a lot) of money for and you deserve to have a great and comparable experience to other students.

Yes costs not reduced, in fact increased with the massive scaling up of tech needed and screens, cleaning, all sorts. The uni jo work at has a lot of students from poorer backgrounds and we have to spend literally millions on laptops, Wi-Fi grants and emergency support grants to students to stop them having to drop out and enable them to complete lectures.

YANBU, the social side of university was just as important to me as getting my degree. I joined lots of societies that really boosted my confidence.
I now work at a university and all of our lectures and seminars have been face to face since September 2021, so I'm not sure why other universities are still online.

Sorry to hear this, OP

I work at a University and we pulled out all the stops to get teaching back on campus asap during/after the pandemic.

March 2020 - all teaching moved online

We then had to plan for a normal/covid student experience so:

Sept 2020 - all students had one day a week on campus (the rest online)
Sept 2021 - all students back on campus although Freshers' week online
Sept 2022 - everything on campus as pre-covid

OP, your University sound really poor, there's no excuse for any teaching to be online anymore. Life is back to normal and students are back in schools, colleges, universities. Where are you that this isn't the case?

I see the disappointment. Some people don’t learn as efficiently online and like the human element where they can ask questions and interact to facilitate learning

If they wanted online they could have signed up to the OU for £3,000 a year cheaper!

Why is everything on line still? I would complain to the uni - it’s totally unacceptable especially if they are charging full fees. They should be functioning as usual now

Which Uni are you at OP? sounds weird and a complete outlier.

Both my nieces are doing science degrees (different unis) and both have been back to normal with lectures and labs since Jan 2022.
DD starts in September and is fully F2F for everything. In fact we all had several F2F lecture on the offer holder day-parents included! All clubs/music/orchestra/freshers as normal.

You aren’t in any way being unreasonable- I have often said that of all the groups who suffered from lockdown, uni students esp first years, mums at home with babies and toddlers and the isolated elderly have suffered enormously in the way of loss of experience and company and a time in life that they can’t get back.

However I wonder if you all need to be a bit less passive here. Is anyone asking questions- WHY is your uni not back to all or at eh very least mainly face to face and why are they not going all out to resume the social side of the student experience? Almost everywhere is unrestricted now and for a cohort who are young and much less likely to be at high risk from covid there seems little excuse.

Which uni is this? They are apparently behaving differently to almost all those j have knowledge of or other posters so I think they need to be taken to task about it.

is there a student group who could do this?

My teens are both at the same uni and are doing a mix of online and classes. Ds”s course seems to be mostly online whereas dd has had more actual classes.

will see what this year brings.

uni certainly hasn’t been the experience that mine were looking for .

My nephew's uni are fully back in person but students can choose to attend lectures on line (either in real time or by watching the recording later). Most are choosing to attend virtually, so I don't think it's as simple as saying universities are cost cutting. Students are making different choices.

I know that the University are trying their best and it’s not their fault

Actually, I think your university, whichever one it is, is completely taking the piss! Why on Earth, when the rest of life in the UK has been largely back to normal for months and most universities are back to full, in person teaching, is yours not? If it were me I'd be kicking up an almighty stink about them charging full fees for 2 hours a week of in person teaching and everything else being in your bedroom since March 2020. That is appalling! And no, you are absolutely not BU to be fed up and sad that your university experience has been so disappointing.

I hear you OP and do feel for you, a relative of time did most of her course online and it just isn't the same.

But I'm really surprised it's still the case now. I have a few friends and family members who work in universities as either lecturers or support and in all of them they're back to normal with teaching in person.

YANBU.

My oldest started his undergraduate science degree in September 2021. His last two years at school were hugely affected by Covid. The course he is on is a large one. We are in Scotland where degrees are 4 years not 3, and the first year has a wide range of classes taken by lots of students - so for example DS is on a biomedical science degree and he had a pharmacology module with everyone studying pharmacy and chemistry, a statistics module with the biololgy students and so on.

This past year - so from September 2021 to May 2022 - he was in uni SIX TIMES. 3 hours a time for labs. So 18 hours in TOTAL. Scotland's approach to Covid has been more batshit mental "cautious" than England's and the Uni's attitude was that classes were too big and they couldn't work out any way of getting them all back on campus. They are "hoping" for a normal second year. He knows nobody from his course, each time he was in for labs it was with a different group. None of the clubs and societies were meeting in person.

I needed to access the uni library in May, well after the mask mandate stopped in Scotland in April. The library had one way systems, capacity limits, every other desk taped off, sanitiser everywhere, messages about social distancing and STAYING SAFE.

His mental health is on the floor and he has struggled enormously with being so isolated and confined to his bedroom for a year. The only mercy is that he's here at home with us while "at uni" so we have been able to keep an eye on him when he has been so low and so unahppy.

It's a total shitshow but the Scottish government have been encouraging this "cautious" approach to education and think the universities are doing a marvellous job. Young people have been completely shafted.

This is what we've done. The lectures are still online but that contact time has been replaced by labs, workshops, seminars, Q&A sessions etc. It means that the students are actually getting access to a lot more teaching and the face to face teaching is more interactive, both with the staff and with each other. Lots of universities have opted for this, it's because it's a better way of teaching and learning, not as a means of avoiding face to face teaching. They get just as many face to face contact hours as before Covid.

Oh and as to the "why is nobody asking questions" - in Scotland it's slightly different as students aren't paying fees.

And the National Union of Students up here very much supported the cautious, careful, eliminate covid approach of the Scottish government. It really has been a disgrace.

Oh this is rubbish. Contact the NUS see what they say?

Ds has done 2 years of uni through covid and it has been awful. He has not enjoyed his course as so much of it online, knows hardly anyone on his course as they hardly ever get to meet and is now just counting the months until he finishes next year. He has made friends, joined clubs but it has not been the same and he suffered in his first year from the isolation.

I'd be interested to know this too as the uni I work at has been delivering fully face to face since last September.

Why are people disbelieving the OP? Just because the Uni you teach in, or where your children go has been offering in-person?

YANBU in the slightest OP. I know a couple of uni-aged people and I just feel devastated for them. When the first lockdown started I thought "meh, it'll just be a couple of weeks, no biggie", but now it's gone past the 2 year mark, and that is a LOT of time in the life of a young person.

The social aspect of it is so important at your age. It's meant to be your introduction to adult life. I'm another one who struggled socially at school and university was such a defining experience. And I don't see why they need to be doing everything online still. You're being robbed. Like someone else said, if you felt like learning from home was something that suited you, you could have signed up to the OU!

I just wonder what knock-on effects all these lockdowns will have on your generation and the ones who are children now, in years to come. I really feel for you all.

My daughters going into third year at Cardiff. Mostly still on line, goes in once or twice a week for labs

I feel really bad for everyone that missed that proper "uni experience" that most get. I'm doing a 2nd degree (15 years after my first!) and I'm just commuting to a small college this time, don't care about the partying/hook ups anymore! Fresher year didn't live up to the hype anyway tbh and I wish I could take back some of the decisions I made! 😳

I'm also not great with "screen lectures", I need a classroom environment (or outdoors in my case, as it's an outdoorsy subject) and a proper present teacher who I can ask questions to sometimes, but if it was my only choice I'd try my best to adapt. My college and even my kids school don't have any rules anymore - but guessing this winter shit will hit the fan again 🙄

Im an 0920 student, i started during the pandemic and everything was understandably online, now, two years later, and despite no lockdowns or closures in over a year, we are still all online. Its so hard to stay motivated sat at a computer alone, you also need the support of students in the cohort. Thankfully I've made a small number of friends, but its nothing like the real student experience before covid. We have complained till we are blue in the face, but they're saying this is how its going to stay. I feel ripped of paying £9.5k a year to effectively teach my self from PowerPoints. But we cant change it.