Complaints from students have arisen across the country in what the Office of the Independent Adjudicator described as a “uniquely challenging year”.
The universities watchdog’s annual report shows it received 2,604 complaints in 2020, this is more than 10% more than in 2019.
Teaching at universities moved online in March 2020 with students only being allowed back onto campus in the past month, only if students are studying a more practical course, for everybody else university courses will start on campus teaching no earlier than 17th May according to the government’s roadmap.
This has brought up many issues with the students concerning the quality of teaching they are receiving and quarrels with student accommodation leaving students feeling like they’ve been hard done by or lost out because of the Coronavirus lockdowns.
I’ve been catching up with some of the students at Marjon university to see if they had any concerns over the experience that they have received over the past year.
Joe McCormick, a 1st year Journalism student, spoke to me about his experience.
Do you have any complains about the past year here at Marjon university?
“My only complaint is one that isn’t really the university’s fault, but it would be the lack of in-person teaching. Microsoft teams calls really do lower motivation, but are important in order to reduce the spread. That being said, I can’t fault Marjon with their swift efforts to return to normal and assist students going through a hard time.
Do you feel you have been treated fairly over the university rent dispute?
“Yes, I think the university have treated the students fairly. All students that were not staying on campus were offered reduced rent costs to make up for the time we spent away. My rent was cut down by about two-thirds, which makes me feel much more comfortable. I appreciate Marjon for thinking of the students and not leaving them to struggle during the pandemic.
Do you feel like your education has been impacted due to the Coronavirus?
“As I touched upon earlier, the online aspect of university has been difficult as it lowers motivation, stops us meeting new people and can be impacted by tech issues. Now that we have returned to in-person teaching, I feel we a lot more nervous about meeting new people and that we haven’t reached our full potential in our first year of university.
This is a common conversation which can be had with students around campus this year, Charlotte Glenn, 1st year had this to say.
Do you have any complains about the past year here at Marjon university?
“No”
Have you applied for a rent hardship fund or received any rent credits for time away from campus due to lockdown?
“I have applied for it (the rent hardship fund), but I have not received it”
Do you feel like your education has been impacted due to the Coronavirus?
“Yes, learning online isn’t ideal, it doesn’t go in as much as having practical learning. There’s support from the teachers but It’s just harder to learn online”
Stephanie Ledbury, 1st year PE student, who lives at home shared her thoughts with me.
Do you have any complains about the past year here at Marjon university?
“There’s not enough for mature students as in societies for those who do not live on campus”
Do you feel like your education has been impacted due to the Coronavirus?
“Yes, because I’m doing PE were not able to teach, some of our placements got cancelled so we weren’t able to do that”
Miguel Trio, a 1st year sports business management student, gave me his thoughts on university life over the past year.
Do you have any complains about the past year here at Marjon university?
” From my experience it seems like it’s very contextual and it depends on the individual, so on my course I find half the students are really enjoying the course and are finding the online teaching okay, but that really depends on how well they get on with the lecturers.
In my three modules, the teachers are pretty good at keeping the retention of the students but they find that with the repetitiveness of the sports development side is very difficult to maintain retention of the students as they feel like they’ve already done the work before. Generally speaking the teachers are doing what they can in being able to help their students learn.
In terms of personal experience, inside the accommodation there are some build quality issues, the walls are really thin. It’s really hard to compromise between my sleep time and my fun time with my mates joining walls, but it’s one of those things we just have to manage.
But considering the circumstances, I feel the university has done a good job.”
Have you applied for a rent hardship fund or received any rent credits for time away from campus due to lockdown?
I spent the whole of September and October here but then I had to come back for financial reasons and for my mental health. This allowed me to see my family and my girlfriend. I found it better for me to do my university work at home. I was just curious as to how they were calculating the whole thing because I’m paying £99 a week out of my student loan, and considering I haven’t been here for 4 or 5 months I only go a month’s worth of credits.
Do you feel like your education has been impacted due to the corona virus?
“Without a doubt, especially with higher education and university, one of the big and important factors to help people grow and understand their knowledge is the social interactions that you get, your able to meet with other students who have similar values that want to do good things as well. With Coronavirus being around it’s been really had to socialise with other people, I can’t meet other people in different flats otherwise I get fined for it. These other people might have the same business ventures as me, it’s quite hard to network and meet new people.”
Everybody who I spoke with today is grouped within the student who are studying more practical subjects and are allowed onto campus earlier than most students.
Concerns around housing and quality of teaching are at the forefront of these complaints with students feeling particularly hard done by with some feeling like they’ve been left in the dark.
Everybody who I interviewed today said that they felt they had missed out because of the online teaching that had to be substituted this year, with some of the students feeling like they had not been given the full picture of the rent dispute or been treated unfairly. This been said most students said Marjon as a university had dealt with the circumstances very well.
This seems to be a common voice across the country, but not all is lost, for those who feel hard done by, have missed out on the rent hardship fund or have extenuating circumstances, speak to your university student union and they may be able to help you reclaim some of the rent that you have lost.