New research from leading higher education charity the UPP Foundation finds that much of the student experience has bounced back from the impact of the pandemic and that students are satisfied with their time in higher education. But the research also uncovers alarming levels of loneliness, apathy, and disengagement among students at UK universities, driven by a ‘cost of learning’ crisis and an increasingly transactional relationship between students and their university.
The research included a series of focus groups and a poll of over 1,600 students delivered by Group GTI to build a picture of the student experience.
There are positive findings from the polling, which indicates that the academic experience has recovered well since Covid-19.
- 79% of students agreed that their university had given them all the support they needed to prepare for the start of term
- 74% of students were working at or above the academic level they expected to be at
- 74% of students agreed with the statement “I feel happy at university”
However, findings from the focus groups and backed up by polling data suggest that there is also a growing sense of apathy and disengagement amongst students, with a significant divergence between student expectations and the reality of university life. For example, the research found that 44% of students surveyed said they experienced loneliness during their time at university, that 44% of students were less engaged with extracurricular activities than they were expecting to be, and a quarter (25%) had never engaged at all.
