University students tell of struggles in a year like no other
Students from Cardiff look back on more than a year of studying in the pandemic. Reem Ahmet reports
AYEAR before she arrived at Cardiff University last autumn Pia Pabst had already begun excitedly planning her trip to the Welsh capital.
The 26-year-old exchange student from Germany had applied to swap her studies in musicology in Berlin for a year in Cardiff as part of the Erasmus programme.
“We were really excited to come here and have all these great things going on – travelling around the country and going to uni and stuff,” she recalled.
“The Erasmus semester is the one semester that everyone is really excited about and really wants to do and brings so much experience into your life.”
But little did she know when she finally picked up her student ID from the grounds of the university on September 26 last year that that would be the last time she set foot in its buildings for a whole year.
In fact, the very next day after Pia’s arrival First Minister Mark Drakeford announced another imminent lockdown.
And so Pia had to remain within the confines of her Airbnb with her long-standing dreams of exploring Wales dashed.
“I was quite scared at this point because that was like the worst thing that could have happened to you at this stage if you didn’t know anyone and then just came to a different country,” she said.
“I didn’t know anyone, and my English was not that great at the start, so I was really scared. And then we started having all these Zoom conversations. Normally you would go to uni and everyone would explain stuff to you in person and you would get your student ID in person.
“And it would be like a mini celebration to get to know other people. But here it was just being in your room all the time and not seeing anyone.”
Sadly for Pia the first weeks of her Erasmus semester set the tone for the rest of her stay, which saw Cardiff in and out of lockdowns. Zoom meetings became the norm, which was particularly tough for Pia, who was communicating in a different language. Academics aside, she also struggled to make friends at first.
“I was kind of lucky, though, because a friend of mine had studied at Cardiff Uni before from Germany and she knows some people here so I got to know another person. And because of him I moved to a student house and then I became really good friends with these people,” she explained.
But now that the year has drawn to an end she reflected: “I feel like I haven’t had the whole Erasmus experience. And because of Brexit I will also not be able to ever come back to the UK that cheaply.”
Pia’s story will no doubt resonate with university students across the world who have spent a good portion of what should be the best years of their lives stuck in lockdown.
For William Partridge, who has just finished his final year studying physics at Cardiff University, it wasn’t so much making friends that was an issue but rather making lasting memories with the friends he had already made.
“In first year you have friends but you have to be really lucky to get genuine connections by the end of it. It’s midway through second year that you start to make actual genuine connections,” he said.
“I’ve definitely made a lot more friends [since first year] and it would have been nice to enjoy going out with all these solid connections.”
While the 21-year-old wasn’t too bothered that he couldn’t go out clubbing – “I went pretty hard in my first year,” he laughed – he admitted that the cancellation of end-of-year events was harder to swallow.
“The biggest thing [that I feel I missed out on] when I look back is the end-of-year balls because I missed those in second year and then I obviously missed it this year,” said William, who is originally from south Gloucestershire.
“We had a little one in one of our friends’ house, where we all dressed up for our little a capella society. It was really special.”
William, who describes himself as a “pretty positive person”, admitted that his mental health took a dip during his final year due to the “underlying stress” of the pandemic.
“At the start of the pandemic I was constantly looking at the news and seeing what was going to happen next and stuff. Now when I look at the news I sometimes just tear up – I can’t take it, like anything negative and stuff like that. Still now,” he said.
He also had to isolate three times in the last year – once for 10 days on his own in his shared flat when everyone else had gone home for Christmas.
Throughout his isolations he claimed the only support from Cardiff University he received was a generic email with resources.
“They probably sent me an email saying: ‘Here’s loads of links to things’,” he recalled. “They’ve got hundreds and thousands of students so they probably can’t justify putting the money into that.”
He also believes it is unfair the tuition fees remained the same despite the switch to online learning – and pointed out that the in-person experience is the reason physical universities can charge more than their online counterparts in the first place.
“In-person actual genuine connections is on the whole so much better and better for everyone’s mental health and experience as a whole,” he said.
“The Open University are far more qualified to teach online, whereas we had to learn it alongside the lecturers learning it as well,” he added.
Finance has been a particular concern for William’s fellow student at Cardiff University, 20-year-old Kasvi Sehgal. She has just completed her second year of a joint Honours degree in journalism and English literature.
As an international student from India she is already paying significantly more than home students and it’s been a major kick in the teeth that the bulk of her coveted experience has been online.
“The start of the university experience was amazing – I got the full freshers experience. But towards the end of the second semester there were strikes so most of our classes weren’t happening. And then the pandemic struck,” she said.
“I struggled with mental health before I came to Cardiff – and I know that everybody in the world has struggled with mental health throughout the pandemic – but I feel like lockdown and online learning just amplified it for me,” she said.
“The energy that I would normally have when I would be going on campus was very different to what I did have. It was very low when I was studying online, my enthusiasm to actually study and get work done – I was lazier. And I was not as productive as I would normally be.”
Tuition fees aside, Kasvi believes the university could have offered more financial support when it came to accommodation too.
While she acknowledges the university would not have had much control over the rent for the private accommodation (rather than university accommodation) she stayed in throughout her second year she wished more could have been done for students in her situation.
“A lot of students got rent rebates and I wish that applied to everybody and not just a specific group of students,” she said. “I am very sure something could have been done by senior authorities or something – something could have been done.”
She’s set to spend the rest of the summer back in India. But before she returns to complete the third year she hopes the university can relieve her anxiety about what will happen.
“I wish they would tell us sooner because at the moment everything is so uncertain, going home without knowing how things are going to be when I’m back.”
While she is adamant she’s returning to Cardiff eventually she admits that if tuition is entirely online she won’t be so quick to get on a flight. Like William, she believes the fees should be reduced if it is all virtual.
“I do hope it’s blended,” she said. “If things are online I would be so demotivated.”
In response to the students’ comments a Cardiff University spokesman said: “More personal support is available via our student support and wellbeing team. We would urge students to contact our student support and wellbeing team so more personal support, if appropriate, can be offered. Information on mental health support has been regularly emailed to students throughout the pandemic. It is also available on our student intranet.
“We recognise the last academic year has been extremely challenging for our students. Given the difficulties that everyone has faced our priority and commitment throughout the pandemic has been to ensure we provide our students with appropriate learning opportunities and with the support they need to achieve learning outcomes. Our staff have been working hard to ensure that we maintain teaching, learning, and service provision throughout, albeit often remotely and in different ways than usual.
“In line with other Welsh and UK universities we have no current plans to reduce our fees. However, if a student is dissatisfied with their learning experience the time to submit a complaint would be at the end of the academic year and through the university’s complaints procedure.
This procedure provides for a range of remedies including goodwill financial payments. The university’s pro vice-chancellor for education and students wrote to all students on May 21 outlining our complaints procedure.
“Financial support has been available to all students, including international students. The university’s pro vice-chancellor wrote to all students on March 3 outlining our financial support package.
All students struggling to meet essential expenses as a direct result of the pandemic could access £350 from the new Covid-19 student support fund. We also continue to offer our financial assistance programme, which provides means-tested help for any student in financial hardship.”