University experience is awful at the moment

[Cupcakke]

DD moved into university on Saturday. The rules are very stringent, both campus bars are closed, the university library has very little capacity and the restaurant is take away only. There are virtually no freshers events in person.

Her flat mates are very shy and not very social and she is in a small flat.

Large gatherings keep occurring but the penalty for this is very severe so DD very cautious not to attend these.

She is essentially watching Netflix in her room. I fear for the loneliness. The online events she has attended are poorly attended and just very boring.

Teaching starts next week and her In person contact hours are just 4 hours a week.

Anyone else’s dc thinking this years university experience is non existent.

"Of course as we know, many students don’t even read their emails properly (or at all)..."

My DD is a fresher. Compared to what she's used to, she's absolutely drowning in emails and finding it really hard to navigate what she really needs to do and what can be left. I'm sure there will be things she should "just click on" but she can't see the wood for the trees. And she's on her own with it.

It's a massive shock to the system for kids who are not used to having to do that level of time management ... never mind feed themselves, make friends, do laundry, get shopping etc etc etc

Not saying they are all perfect, but I do feel there is a lack of focus on finding ways to support the freshers with their new lives. DD has been engaging with online events and with her course, but is basically not going outside at all because she's been scared off by all the dire warnings about what will happen if she breaks any rules. I worry about the impact on her state of mind.

AChicken these were 2nd and 3rd years.

Fair enough AgileLass. You know your students and I'm sure of them just can't be bothered. But the comment raised my hackles because it makes me sad to thing that DD's tutors might also be sighing and assuming she isn't reading emails when she's sometimes been in tears over the phone because she just doesn't know when to start.

"where" to start ...

Let’s hope students remember this at the ballot box. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more fury that they’re paying full fees for this as well.

Some of them are the governments of the future, too. The current lot will be out of office by the time the consequences of lockdown really kick in, but the politicians of the future will have lived through Saint Boris’s lockdown.

The best thing she can do AChicken is to get in touch with her personal tutor if she’s struggling. If she doesn’t know who that is, then her department will be able to tell her - there’s probably a general enquiries email address.

Some of these experiences are absolutely heartbreaking.

DS is a first year student and moved in to a flat of 6 at the weekend.

He says that his flatmates are all quite sociable, and they have been on a pub crawl already.

He's also played a game of football with some lads doing his subject.

But his girlfriend - who is doing retakes - won't be able to come and visit, which is heart breaking - although I guess he can go and see her.

Thanks Agile.

I do feel for those starting uni, especially those who have just left school so more than likely missed out on celebrating their 18th birthday, and now Freshers and uni.

It sounds really tough for the Freshers, my DS is a second year student and has a role 'mentoring' the first years, they have not yet started Freshers Week yet but he is having (online) training and they do seem to be taking it fairly seriously, I know it's not ideal but it might be some small help for the new students.

I’m studying at university as a mature student. All I can say is sitting at a laptop listening to someone talk through a powerpoint and then direct us to read what feels like 200 articles is shit. The “discussion” board is dead because it’s so false, and it’s hard to articulate in words what you want to talk about without feeling like your tentative thoughts will be up there to be read for all eternity. And my personal
Tutor puts on weekly drop ins, I went to the first one but since then haven’t bothered- what am I going to say? It’s the situation, it’s shit, can’t do much else!

I feel for all students, freshers especially. What a time to be starting university - DS is due to start next week and has been allocated a household of 7 people. I rang a pub/restaurant to ask if they’d take a booking for 7 if they were in the same Uni household and I was given a very firm reply of NO. So it would seem they have to split into 2 groups or one person will always be left out.

I'm so sorry to hear this. That's fucking awful. Someone has already mentioned the problem of student mental health and I've been worrying about this since March.

At my university, we'll be teaching in person. I'm going in quite a lot at the moment to reorganise my room to allow for more social distancing. I'll be teaching tutorials of 1 or 2, but also classes of 8. (Allowed in an educational setting.) I'm also planning some social events for new graduate students who don't live on site and find it harder to join in college life.

If my DC were due to start this year, and they weren't going to a university that had made plans for a significant amount of in-person teaching and social life (very dependent on the type of university, class sizes, available space, location of halls of residence etc.), I would encourage them to take a gap hear instead.

Yes yes to all this. My DD is waiting until half term to decide whether to bail or not.

There could be more face to face teaching or even help to just meet small groups of fellow students. Even if they sit outside somewhere. It would help them bond before the endless online content.

Mental health is a massive issue and a few web pages and part time advisors is in no way going to stop people feeling dire and dropping out (and worse).

It is not good enough.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been more fury that they’re paying full fees for this as well

Perhaps they realise that it isn't costing universities any less to deliver courses this year.

@Bwlch I don't think anyone is diminishing the effort individuals have put in. However it's not just about input but effect. I could charge my daily rate to copy out a text book. It would cost more than buying from Waterstones. But it would be sub par.

It does sound like some universities have made more effort than others. For example, a friend of mine works at the Surrey Sports Park on the Surrey university campus in Guildford, and she says that they have set up outdoor bars and socially distanced tables etc. At least that sounds like they've tried to do something.

I have always said that if my ds had been ready to go uni this year I would have encouraged him to go as there aren't many jobs or travel opportunities. But it does really sound like it would be better to wait. If you are going to be cooped up in one room you may as well be at home and looked after by mum and dad. I will suggest he puts at least one university down where he could potentially live at home if this carries on. There's no point paying for accommodation when you could travel in twice a week for the meagre face to face offering.

Our academics aren’t even allowed back in their own offices yet. From what I hear, some may actually be arranging small group meetings here and there outside or in coffee shops because they think zero f2f teaching just isn’t going to work.

@Gymntonic What if the option of buying from Waterstones didn't exist?

ds is at a university which has suffered a spate of suicides in the past. He is ok as he is second year and has friends, but I really worry about the freshers. The isolation is awful.

I had a look at the Freshers social events offering where DS is last night and hadn’t really focussed on one thing that this morning has made me a bit WTF.

The SU made tickets for events available to second years five days before actual Freshers. They very kindly held back 50% of tickets and released them five days later for Freshers. So the actual Freshers who Freshers week is aimed at potentially only had access to 50% of the tickets. The second years who had a normal Freshers experience last year potentially made up 50% of the ticket sales.

And they are in flats of 8 but it’s max tables of 6. I get that that is the gov rule but seriously!

My DD has just left for Uni on Sunday . At present she is ok as this is day 3 but as a physiotherapy student I am deeply concerned wether the Uni can actually deliver the course as ultimately she should walk out qualified. Also they are on an educational course that will be assessed and graded what will the standard of this course look like. Will our students ultimately with the best will of the world from lecturers and I have heard the blurb about super interactive online receive gold star TES or whatever the brochure for that particular uni offered When it was inticing us there last year. the last thing we want is for them to walk out having failed or underachieved due to circumstances out of their control they have already been screwed on A levels will we see the same for degrees. Will they be known as the years with the substandard degrees as well as the year that were gifted A levels!

I feel so sorry for freshers this year. Such a completely different experience from the norm. For most of us it was a fantastic time to make amazing life-long friendships & grow into yourself. I think of the courses are mostly online, I'd encourage students to work at home a lot, as long as there are no vulnerable people in the household.

My DH is a lecturer and they have been flat out trying to re-engineer their courses to fit an online structure. He's had to completely revamp each course he teaches, which is a huge undertaking. On top of that, the grind of battling with new technologies and software is so frustrating. He's far far busier than usual at this time of year. All the supervising bodies and external examiners are going to be just as (more?) critical as ever to make sure the quality of material delivered is up to standard.

Also when teaching in person, he can get a sense from the class on what's going well & what they're struggling with. All of that interaction is completely gone. It's really a disaster on all sides. Lecturing staff are 100% not lounging around at home with cups of tea.

That probably sounds defensive but I'm just trying to reassure you parents that all the staff I know are doing Trojan work to keep the material up to standard. The rest of the uni experience though, is definitely disappointing. But what can they do? If an organized event leads to an outbreak, then there would be hell to pay.

Those I know who were due to start Uni this year have deferred. Seems like a good decision going from the above comments

It depends what the alternatives are though. If they can’t get a job or can’t travel then what are they going to do. Some will have already had six months of doing nothing very much. Not great options either way.

This thread makes for sad reading. All the joys of Uni life being taken away from our young people.