Students face frustration
Many university students are beginning to wonder whether they are getting value for money from their experiences during lockdown.
UNIVERSITY students say they have been left feeling agitated and neglected during the third lockdown. Most students have been asked to stay at home, with some still paying rent for accommodation they are not using.
Courses are running remotely but students say this means they do not have full access to university resources.
The government has asked students who haven’t returned to their university to ‘stay where they are’ except for some courses, including medicine.
University of Portsmouth students who spoke to The News have told of their frustration and disappointment, with many feeling that their experience has been ruined for the academic year.
The institution previously said it was ‘disappointed to have to pause most face-to-face teaching’ when lockdown was announced.‘
Nik Davies, 23, is a final year film production student who went home over Christmas and is now staying home in Chichester.
He said: ‘I decided not to go back (at the start of the year), I know a couple of my friends did but I decided to stay at home due to tier four.
‘Now after lockdown, I’m staying here for the foreseeable future’.
‘I’m paying rent still for a place that I’m currently not living in and I’m not having the social interaction either, it’s disappointing’.
Nik is renting a flat in Harry Law Hall, one of the cheapest options for Portsmouth students, which costs £2,187 for the spring term.
He added: ‘As far as I can see we should get a discounted rate, and we shouldn’t have been encouraged to return’.
‘We started our term a week later in October and they reduced our rent by £100. I don’t understand why they could do it then but can’t do anything about it now’.
The lockdown will affect Nik’s studies, as his course requires practical work that the lockdown will restrict. He said: ‘Being on a film production course we’re meant to be making our graduate films this term. Our 15-minute short films.
‘For my production specifically, we need a lot of night-time shoots. We know we’re going to need more than six people outside and on the streets’.
‘For film production students, this is why we come to uni. The degree is great but the graduate film is what we will show employers. It shows the best of our abilities.
‘There’s a big worry that we’re not going to be able to do it.
‘We’ve also got to raise money to make these movies, but people are less willing to give than last year.
Another student, who does not want to be named, said she broke government rules by returning to her student house in Southsea that costs her about £400 a month.
She said: ‘I’m now back at my uni house.
‘I was going to stay at home but, for me, it was better overall to come to uni even though obviously we’re not supposed to.
‘I had the Covid test done, which was negative, I’m not going out apart from going to the shops to get food so I’m doing the right thing to stay safe and everything.
‘There are three of us in the house. One of us has moved back home.
‘It’s tricky not being able to see people and having made that decision to move back here and not see my family for a while but for me and my studies it was the best thing for me.’
When asked about her studies, she added: ‘I was doing online work from March all the way through until the end of last year. I did five or six assignments during lockdown.
‘I’m used to the way teaching is delivered now. But it can be quite hard to motivate myself when I’m stuck in the same building 24/7.
‘There’s an online learning platform, they have different module sections. It’s really useful the way they’ve broken it down
‘They have reading lists and most of the books are now online which means I don’t have to trek to the library.
‘They did mention doing lab work after the lockdown but those spaces have been prioritised for veterinary, medical and dental students.’
She said she wants tuition fees to be lowered this year.
She said: ‘The universities have to make money somehow, I get that, but surely not £9,250 where we’re literally paying for the same experience as an Open University course.
‘We’re not getting that in-person experience, we’re not getting those face-to-face lectures, the lab work, the practicals.’
We should get a discounted rate, and we shouldn’t have been encouraged to return
Nick Davies