Students & The Pandemic

Our Students & The Pandemic campaign was launched during the summer to raise awareness of the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on student mental health. For this campaign, we asked young university & college students in Dundee about their experiences with the pandemic and online learning. 

Our survey collected data from young students aged between 16-26 in Dundee. The results highlighted the impact the pandemic has had on student life and mental health. Due to the various lockdowns and the shift towards online learning, this had a significant impact on students. 

We asked students if they experienced mental health issues before the pandemic. Results of our survey showed that 86% of students have experienced mental health issues before the pandemic. Students experienced various mental health challenges before the pandemic. Our results showed that: 68% of students experienced Anxiety; 54% experienced Depression; 54% experienced Lack of Self-Esteem and; 47% experienced stress. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on student mental health & wellbeing. Students have expressed that they have experienced an increase in anxiety, stress and loneliness. This shows that students will need mental health support. 

In our survey students have expressed that with the shift towards working from home, they have lost their motivation and become disengaged with their work. Due to the lack of social interaction and support with their peers it caused an increase in loneliness. Additional mental health problems experienced by students included stress, anxiety and some losing their coping mechanisms. 

We asked about how well mental health challenges have been supported by college & university, the main results show that students think that support has been very poor, poor and okay. This highlights that students need improved mental health support. 

Students have expressed that their university and college have adapted well to online learning. The majority of students (75%) expressed that there have been benefits to online learning. These benefits include the flexibility as lectures would be recorded where this was not always accessible for students prior to the pandemic. As the lectures are recorded it means that there’s reduced gaps in education as students can view the lecture if they missed it. Working from home has also been accessible towards students with disabilities.  This highlights that online learning should remain accessible for in-campus education.

We asked students if they feel confident about their future prospects after graduating. Results show that 57% of students are unsure about their future prospects. Students feel that they are not confident with their future prospects due to the impact the pandemic has had on the job market. Students are uncertain about their career paths due to the pandemic. We also found that, there are students who are confident in their fields and are passionate about working in their careers.