The year of digital thinking
On a global pandemic, researchers, policymakers, and student mental health
UK students are struggling. In 2018, almost 88% of them reported having suffered from anxiety during their degree. While mental health at university has been widely investigated by researchers, it has never been the subject of concrete action from the Government.
The added pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic might be the last straw. UCL and many other universities have taken the difficult decision to move all teaching online to prevent the spread of the virus. This unprecedented move is likely to cause considerable disruption in the learning process and exacerbate the issues faced by students. To prevent this, many research projects have emerged in the past six months. Yet to be truly effective, they will need to be accompanied by large-scale and specific support.
Mental health is a non-negligible factor that directly impacts student performance. However, little to no nation-wide action has been taken to this day, and universities often use their own schemes without any coordination. Those might not suffice anymore: preliminary research from the USA suggests disastrous consequences of the pandemic among college students, including increased depressive thoughts, reduced motivation and higher dropout rates. Loneliness, which already affected 46% of UK students during their degree, will also be exacerbated by online learning. First year undergraduates might be especially isolated, as they have not had the time to bond with their cohort, but all students are at risk. These issues are expected to disproportionately affect youngsters from deprived backgrounds, who reported lower levels of wellbeing than their peers even before Covid-19. Learning at home in unfavourable conditions is likely to widen the already growing attainment gap.
Although actual long-term impacts are still hard to evaluate, the pandemic’s consequences on students have attracted considerable attention from researchers.
Some research projects have already been put into place: UCL has its fair share. The Better Together initiative, hosted by the UCL Institute of Education, is investigating the impact of the pandemic on PhD students. Its preliminary results highlight higher rates of anxiety and depressive thoughts among them compared to the general population. Respondents reported being worried about their future and seeing their financial struggles worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic. Their stipends and scholarships had been reduced or cancelled, and many feared they might not find a stable position upon completion of their PhD.
Since November 2019, UCL’s SENSE survey offers a comprehensive view of factors related to student wellbeing, from workload to living situation, and assesses their contribution to mental health. Its findings are yet to be published, but this holistic study will be able to effectively monitor the changes brought by the pandemic. Meanwhile, the UCL ASPIRES project is tracking the impact of the pandemic on GenZ through its longitudinal research.
The timescale of researchers and policymakers is usually quite different: the former need months to test their results, while the latter have to take quick action with long-term impacts. The pandemic has changed the rules of the game by drastically speeding up research. It is now up to policymakers to build onto these developments.
Action will be required at different levels, starting with universities and student unions.
The situation calls for cross-organisational cooperation. By drawing on projects like SENSE — in partnership with UCLU — actors will have a better understanding of students’ struggles and be able to tailor their support. Financial and employment stress for instance, could benefit from some money-management sessions and enhanced online career advice. Based on Better Together’s data, loneliness could be mitigated by online peer support sessions, which could even be extended to different universities as part of a cross-institutional project.
While politicians are eager to ask for more from universities, encouraging them to contact the relatives of struggling students, little is being done on their side. Yet only a national scheme can tackle this nation-wide problem. Tools like screening questionnaires for anxiety and depression should be systematically offered to incoming students, with support to be implemented upon results. This year, online scales assessing the impact of Covid-19 on students’ lives could also help to target those needing urgent help.
At UCL and beyond, students will be facing new challenges. Meeting their mental health needs should be a priority for policymakers, who can rely on researchers’ latest findings to do so. Despite universities’ best efforts, a holistic approach to student wellbeing is yet to be put into place; it will be sorely needed to address the impacts of the pandemic. This year’s online teaching will not improve student mental health, but a combination of cross-cutting research and proactive policymaking can.
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More about the Author
Josephine Durant Des Aulnois is a UCL Geography Graduate currently studying Global Politics at LSE.
