Stephanie is a second year student on a master’s course

University life massively changed in March 2020 due to Coronavirus, directly affecting those who joined in the autumn of 2019.

Covid-19 forced students and teachers to head online and focus their learning through applications like Microsoft Teams, restricting the amount of practical work they could do.

Despite students now returning to face-to-face teaching, much of their learning throughout their degree, and in particular the 2020 to 2021 year, was disrupted.

With Covid restrictions ending this week we reflect on how students at Falmouth University were affected by the changes in learning and teaching.

Stephanie is studying a master’s degree in architecture, and is currently in her second year and we asked how she felt impacted by the pandemic:

“I found it fine (studying online), sometimes it was hard because my course is very collaborative, so I didn’t get to have that bonding or experience with my course mates which overflowed to this year.

“But you eventually learn how to do everything on your own so it’s not that much of a struggle now.”

Stephanie adapted to online learning and claimed she “liked working alone, and when I went back to the studios and didn’t really like it as I had to adjust to the environment.”

Third year student Charlie on the other hand is studying Animal Behaviour and he felt like he hadn’t experienced the ‘university life’.

“I felt a lot of social aspects were missed out on in the sense that before a lecture you interact with people and afterwards, you’d maybe chat or go for a coffee.

“I definitely wasn’t as nearly engaged with online seminars as I was when there in person.”

The contrasting opinions between third second and third year student was supported by the 2021 Student Covid Insights Survey (SCIS) which reported 55% of students that joined in 2020 were satisfied with their academic experience, whilst only 44% of those who joined in 2019 were satisfied.

Charlie is in his final year of University