Six in 10 students reject online learning proposals

Chris Brighton on 27 May 2020
Six in 10 students reject online learning proposals

Almost six in 10 students would not re-enrol at university if their institution did not offer face-to-face lectures next year, a survey by Student Hut has found.

Following the announcement by several universities that they will be moving teaching online for the next academic year, students said they would feel ‘disappointed and frustrated’ if their universities were to put this into place. 

44% of students said they would want to defer for a year, while further 13% said that they would want to transfer to another university. A third of students also said that they would now consider taking a gap year, compared to just 16% pre-lockdown. 

Despite this, almost 90% of students said that they still want to go to university in September, with over 75% saying they would return to their studies in person if their university maintained face-to-face learning and implemented Covid-19 safety measures such as face masks and screens. 

“Even with the current lockdown restrictions, students are telling us that online learning is not good enough, and they still want to attend university in person in September. Universities need to look at putting safety measures in place and offer blended learning options combining online and offline teaching; otherwise students will either transfer to another institution that can offer this, or take a year out instead.”, said Katherine Nicholls, Director of Research at Student Hut.

The findings have come from a project to track student opinion and attitudes during the COVID-19 crisis.

The project will provide weekly updates showing the change in student attitudes from the UK’s most engaged and diverse student panel, taken from an audience of one million users and over 150,000 subscribers. 

For press enquiries, please contact Nicola Jones [email protected] or call +44 (0)1273 734640. You can find previous Student Hut press releases and media coverage about the COVID-tracker here.

Chris Brighton
Chris Brighton on 27 May 2020