‘Half my time at university has been snatched away’
My heart sank and a realisation set in – I have lost the entirety of my final year of university to Covid-19
I had already lost half of my second year to the pandemic, so overall that’s approximately half my university experience down the drain, which is such a sad fact.
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Hide AdCoincidentally, May 17 is also my dissertation hand-in day. After I have submitted my dissertation (pray for me), I am no longer a university student, which means I have absolutely no reason to head back onto campus for in-person teaching.
I understand that this news is heartbreaking for all university students, but I feel that it hurts that little bit more for those in their final year, like myself.
Second-year students will still get one more year and first-years will get two with universities functioning like normal, hopefully.
But for people like me, the last year in which we can act like students before settling down into the ‘real world’ has been snatched away.
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Hide AdMy final year of university has involved me sat behind my laptop in my bedroom in Littlehampton for hours every day. All my teaching has been over Zoom, including one-to-one sessions and group sessions for my final-year major project and for my dissertation.
Asking for help from lecturers over Zoom is not as easy as doing it in person and you can’t quickly catch them in their offices. Information is not communicated as easily, internet connections go down, emails can be missed and things get lost in translation.
As past and present university students know, the UK government pays a student’s chosen university £9,250 a year, which we students have to pay back. This is on the basis that we receive a high-quality education experience.
I study multimedia journalism at Bournemouth. For this course, I mainly need access to the Apple Macs for editing video and audio footage, as they have the software needed to do it to a good standard.
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Hide AdI also need access to the kit room to borrow video and audio equipment, like cameras and microphones, to complete assignments.
We have not had adequate use of any facilities or buildings this year. I had to pay £120 for two months’ use of two specialist programs in order to complete my final-year major project – this would have been free if we were allowed into university.
Eventually, we will be paying back a whole year’s fees, for what?
Another thing I am really struggling to get my head round is that everyone is now allowed to mingle outside in a pub garden, people can walk freely inside a shop and people can meet in parks and private gardens, but university students cannot sit in a large lecture theatre – where it is incredibly easy to socially distance – and learn.
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