Alamy
The pandemic is petering out, we’re out of lockdown, and life-time has gone back to as near-normal as could be hoped, for now.
But what’s left of the students who had their university events entirely impeded, decisive years of their lives stolen and their mental health left impaired as a result of the past 18 months?
As a student who’ graduated’ during the pandemic- albeit without a graduation rite in sight- I had half of my university knowledge absolutely reformed. Approaching the Easter holidays in my second time, myself and my housemates left for home, expecting that it would all comes to an end in a matter of weeks.
Little did we know that the rest of our university know would never be the same again. That, for what was left of our unit, we would be captured inside, isolating, or even with COVID-1 9 ourselves.
Among being able to speak about my working experience of seclusion, deciphering mental health and contending tooth and nail to even finish my severity, I spoke to other students for World Student Day about what living has been like since.
Students have been left behind in this pandemic: Forced into cramped overpriced adaptation, blamed for our government’s disappoints, and paying extortionate uni rewards for substandard online learning.
We involve more…
— 9K 4 WHAT? MCR (@ 9k4whatMCR) November 7, 2020
Almost exactly a year ago, I tested positive for COVID-1 9. I had just moved into a student house for my third time, I didn’t know the people I was living with well and my indications became so bad one day that I nearly called an ambulance. My body felt like it had given up on me. I couldn’t leave my berthed and the only experience I can equate it to is when I was in a critical condition in hospital a few years ago.
While my physical symptoms improved, my mental health issues rejected. I was stunned. The uncharted expectation of what long-term impairs coronavirus could impose on my form, mixed with a nippy residence environment, left me feeling altogether isolated and thoroughly trapped.
While isolation is recommended if you test positive for COVID-1 9, this type of isolation was overwhelming. In my territory of fever, I had checked flights to other countries so that as soon as I was better I could flee the stiflingly cold sky that encircled me in my student residence. I had shrivelled up from both the lack of empathy, kindness or care I was being given, but also the fact that I had likely sobbed every lowering of fluid from my figure as I roared down the telephone to my mum and friends that I couldn’t take it anymore. I was fretted I was going to do something to myself.
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Student Minds, a mental health charity for students, said its research in May 2021 presented’ 74% of students felt that the pandemic had negatively affected their mental health and wellbeing ‘. Student Attention indicated by the pandemic had’ wide-reaching and profound’ results on students, from their’ education to living layouts, social connectedness and financial security’.
Ben, a student who has just gone into his second time, spoke to UNILAD about how he feels upon returning.’ It’s been a very weird experience being chucked straight into it, with no smooth transition and without that orientation that first years would’ve went ,’ he said.
Having missed out on freshers week and to know other students or professors on his direction, Ben said his year group are’ crashing freshers’ to urgently try to make up for lost duration and’ get that suffer[ they] never had’.
‘It’s been strange that last week was the first time I ever converged most my course copulates in person ,’ Ben said. However, he noted that fortunately he can’ previously be considered that those connections to speakers and instructors going a lot tighter’.
STUDENT PROTEST9K 4WHAT? Joined the demonstration organised by SAFER today outside Owens park halls.We suffer in socially-distanced solidarity and temper at the mistreatment of students in this lockdown. pic.twitter.com/ J8SA2uuQAa
— 9K 4 WHAT? MCR (@ 9k4whatMCR) November 8, 2020
Graduating in 2020, Chike merely had the last few months of his degree, but said his final piece of work as a student of an prowess degree was nearly jeopardised because of the pandemic.
‘I was going to do my final major items at uni but then I had to find all the materials for my stop motion movie in a panic buy, because art shops were considered non-essential at the time. It was very frenetic, because I had to move the entire movie to only working in my apartment ,’ he explained.
Cathy similarly engaged a creative stage, studying Drama and English Literature at the University of Manchester, but concludes colleges and universities wasn’t’ doing enough pre-pandemic’ to help set students up for jobs after student postgraduate. Cathy withdraws being told’ 98% of students from the course are employed’ after graduation, but said’ at least 50% of those students are realistically employed in maccie’s or something’.
With firms closing down and being strained , is not merely was it harder to find a job, but numerous students have been previously missed out on vital work experience they desperately needed to get their jobs off the ground.
if they’re gonna cancel GCSE and A level quizs they need to address what’s happening with university analysis. i’m not compensating PS9k+ a year only to be so disadvantaged by national event that im not able to achieve the grade i want
— agnes* .+@ (@ rotswamp) January 4, 2021
Chike observed the pressure he’s facing in getting a job post-pandemic. He subsequently lost motivation, encounter it harder to find the exertion to take over programmes having to work from residence, questioning:’ What is it I’m even working towards anymore ?’
Student Minds said it was in’ awe’ of both students and the course they were adapting’ to the ongoing converts, challenges and uncertainty ‘. However, for numerous, the struggle continues.
Cathy has similarly struggled to find a job, clambering to find part-time work to fund the many activities she has been doing for free, due to many creative industries been badly underfunded.
‘This is the thing, parties are so quick to merely denounce the industry, but why do they expect you to work for free? It’s because we are taught from an early age that the arts are irrelevant ,’ she said.
Cathy noted that money comes from investors and how,’ there are very few government funded initiatives for innovative campaigns, which is really interesting because a great deal can be done through art’.
Student Minds has created an information hub for those striving in their job searches post-pandemic, present advice on how to face and cope with such challenges.
If only they could “Rethink. Reskill. Reboot.” this entire campaign. pic.twitter.com/ hmnKPHW4 8m
— Paris Collingbourne (@ pcollingbourne_) October 12, 2020
Having been advised she should work in a label centre due to the very few activities being available in her domain of skills and’ basically told, do it yourself ‘, Cathy has been left feeling depressed, but’ isn’t surprised’.
She territory:
I think there’s a point to be made now, that maybe they would’ve offered assistance when you are left if the higher education system wasn’t privatised.
The fact is, that once we stop compensating them fund, they totally lose interest in us.
Students aren’t seen as the future anymore, we’re seen as cash cows.
Cathy said there was a’ really strong case to be made against the university pas us a pay’ and that she has been left’ forestalled ‘, feeling that no one wants to help those in her situation.
Despite the university experience being completely decreased and haphazardly thrown together online, students still had to pay full tuition fees during the pandemic.
Right how can we get them out ?! This is NOT ACCEPTABLE #MMU pic.twitter.com/ yS7oYmuS99
— Emma Kenny (@ emmakennytv) September 27, 2020
Education secretary Gavin Williamson even articulated the opinion that students should not be charged full costs if not returning to face-to-face teaching.
Student Minds too announced on the government to provide a universal supporting remittance to all students, after experiment is demonstrated that’ 49% of students were negatively impacted financially during the course of its pandemic ‘, preventing them from’ fully have taken part in their university experience’.
Furthermore, the lack of mental health support Cathy was given while at university has left a long-lasting impact , is not merely on her wellbeing and struggle to find a job, but her notion of higher education.
Student Minds commented that, despite many universities and students’ unions departing’ over and above ‘, the charity reputes’ more could have, and still can be done to support students ‘. It used to call’ greater financial support, academic aid and mental health support from both the Government and universities ‘, in its ‘Life in a Pandemic’ report .
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Chike, like Cathy, didn’t get a graduation ceremony. However, while Chike was’ really sad’ about it, Cathy mistrusts she will even attend hers if the postponed event does take place.
‘I clearly won’t be shaking hands with anyone if I do. I have a lot of bad blood with the university ,’ she explained.
Despite the lack of support from the university masses themselves, both Cathy and Chike memo their appreciation of their lecturers.
Chike’s speakers were’ a little more encouraging ‘, emailing him for updates during his final project and asking how he was coping. Cathy spoke of the conversations around mental health issues with her Drama academics as being’ amazing’.
However, Chike conceived’ belief should have gone back to face-to-face a lot sooner than it did ‘, questioning why universities weren’t allowed at the same time schools were.
How do we get universities to improve mental health support? I think this could be the answer. Link in my bio to sign and share the petition 
pic.twitter.com/ UUVmwzJ6oL
— Ben West (@ iambenwest) January 19, 2021
Cathy reputes the government has not just’ completely forgotten’ about students and postgrads, but’ intentionally ignored’ them.
‘From ratifying applications and the uni saying to speak to the government, then going to the government and them saying to speak to uni. It was a denounced sport, where both tried to shift the blamed when they knew they were both responsible and should have both been doing things to help the young people of home countries ,’ she said.
Cathy added:
It’s definitely a government issue with mental health issues. We can request universities to do so much, and they didn’t afford enough reinforce, but too where was the funding for this support. The government is building HS2 and that is millions of pounds which could’ve been put into our NHS.
While the lack of face-to-face teaching impacted numerous, Cathy believe merged and online memorize was not as bad as it first perhaps seemed.’ Although I personally am a big believer in the merits of in-person teaching, I review[ for] the people who were struggling, online hear was a really good thing ,’ she said.
However, Cathy did not agree with how it was’ researched out’ on students amid the pandemic, and costs not reduced as a result of such tentative goes and increased contact hours.
She said:
It’s fair enough to have to be trying to figure out how it’s done, but the facts of the case is we didn’t get any compensation for figuring out how its done.
We’ve come to learn from you , not you to learn from us. In point, we’re pay to learn from you.
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Chike’s admonition for both students and postgraduates who may be struggling is to try to find a’ balance’.
He said:
If you’re having a bit of an off daylight, it’s okay to just take an off day. I think the government, or society as a whole really has indoctrinated us into thinking we can’t have these off days and take time to chill, relax and reboot and that we ever have to be working or going out.
However, while all three students offered sympathy for current students and advice on how to get through testing meters in one’s magnitude, they could not help but draw back to their feelings of quarantine, mortification and the idea of being forgotten.
While Ben is happy for life to get back to ordinary, he expressed resentment at colleges and universities having’ absolutely forgotten and covered aside’ the pandemic, as if the’ last year or two’ didn’t occur.
He computed:’ And all the issues and the scandal of having to pay full tuition is just going to be ignored now.’
Cathy stressed that students never’ detested the prospect of coalesced learning as it can be really helpful for most people ‘, but it was the way the universities’ handled it which was an issue and feeds into us feeling forgotten about’.
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Despite the struggle of the pandemic, Cathy said she was’ a little delighted to see that the university’s facade didn’t work’.
She showed:
Because I believed they want to forget about us, since they are made a really really big mistake and didn’t take any responsibility for it and miss everyone to forget about it. But I’m not going to forget about it and I hope nobody else does.
Cathy hopes that the so-called forgotten students of the pandemic will not forget how the government and higher education system behaved, and hopes’ it registers in the votes of next election’.
While she admits retaining can be distressing, the pain embracing the pandemic elicit our mentalities is an attempt’ block it out ‘, she advises people to address the fact that’ people who are supposed to know what to do in a crisis did that’.
students and young people, delight retain how the government altogether left you on your own, fucked you over and then accused you for a rise in cases when you’re choosing who to vote for.
— abbie (@ axlouise0 4) September 24, 2020
‘We can forgive these things, everyone draws mistakes, even people in power, but to notoriously f* ck up, there’s some purpose behind it, there has to be some intention behind it. I only don’t see how anyone could have thought that was a genuinely good intuition to do all the things they did to us ,’ Cathy said.
Student Space, run by Student Imagination, the UK’s student mental health charity is here to help you as you prepare for university with expert substantiate and wellbeing advice. Whether you’re accentuated about your studies, personal animation, or if you have concerns about what university lifetime will look like, you don’t “re going to have to” struggle on your own
Explore their dedicated support services, tips-off, implements and student floors to find the help you need. If you are in need of support please do are to be achieved by texting’ STUDENT’ to 85258 to start a conversation today. We are here to help 24/7
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