Universities and Covid-19: increasing distance… and inequalities

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted universities around the world for two years, forcing them to increase the use of digital technology, but with very different situations between regions and increased inequalities between students.

“The big change observed during the pandemic is clearly the generalized closure of campuses at the international level and a transition to distance learning, with great heterogeneity in the responses provided and the levels of preparation.“, explained to AFP Mathias Bouckaert, analyst at the OECD and specialist in university issues.

“In some countries, online teaching was already practiced, such as in Canada where the harsh winters sometimes make travel impossible. In other countries such as Turkey, where laws mandated a high level of face-to-face teaching, these practices were much less familiar.“, he continues.

Better off in Europe

Covid-19, which led to the closure of universities in March 2020 in most countries, with recourse to distance education and then often to hybrid forms (face-to-face and remote), had “a varied impact depending on the region and the level of income“, with countries in Europe and North America”better able to cope with disturbances“, also underlines a Unesco report published in early 2021. This is the case in the United States, where the enrollment of students in distance learning programs had already increased by 29% between 2012 and 2018. According to statistics 16% of students studied there exclusively online at the end of 2018.

In this country, where most universities closed from March 2020 to August 2021, the pandemic has however affected the number of students – 17 million enrolled this year, one million less than in 2019 -, and especially that international students, whose numbers fell by 17% between 2019 and 2021, according to the National Student Clearinghouse research center.

Disparities between countries

“In general, universities that had international students have been greatly impacted by digitalization“, summarizes Mathias Bouckaert, citing for example the United Kingdom, the United States or Australia. In Canada, where foreign students can represent up to 30% of the total, the restrictions linked to the pandemic have also complicated the access to universities.

In this country, with the appearance of Omicron since January in Quebec and Ontario, all the universities – which for the most part offered hybrid teaching – again had to close completely for a few weeks. But online teaching seems to have worked quite well there. According to a 2021 study by the Canadian Student Research Consortium of 13,000 students, “about two-thirds said they were satisfied with the instruction received online“.

This is much less the case in other regions of the world, such as Africa. In Kenya, access to internet or computers remains a major problem. “We are very poorly equipped“, explains Masibo Lumala, a lecturer at Moi University (west).We have the skills to teach online, most of us having taken training, but where are the facilities?“. Phylis Maina, dental student at the University of Nairobi, also regrets the poor quality of internet connections. She also regrets that “social interactions between teachers and students (…) have disappeared“.

Impact on mental health

Because the pandemic has not only disrupted learning for young people: it has also deprived them of student life, with significant psychological repercussions for some, and an increase in inequalities. “My parents only said college was years of dating for life, I don’t feel that“, sums up to AFP Emil Kunz, 22, an agronomy student in Berlin.

In Germany, where most universities are still largely distance learning, for young people staying with their parents, “school is out, but adult life can’t begin“, explains Klaus Hurrelmann, researcher in education at the Hertie School in Berlin, for whom “the pandemic will probably shape this cohort of students for life”.Overall, there has been an impact on mental health. Isolation and confinements have been complicated“, emphasizes Mathias Bouckaert. The pandemic has also “exacerbated existing inequalities“, he adds, “less advantaged students having found themselves in even more difficulty“, especially those with dependent children or without a computer.

Strong demand for face-to-face

In France, the students, who returned to college in September, have also been hard hit. “There was a strong demand to return to face-to-face“, says Raphaëlle Laignoux, vice-president in charge of student life at the University of Paris I Sorbonne.

In this university, where food aid or connection aid for students was set up in 2020, in the form of computer loans in particular, “most of our students are now equipped“, she continues. “It’s more about social conditions – where are we, how do we eat – that inequalities persist“.

No postponement of exams

Frédérique Vidal, the Minister of Higher Education, said to our colleagues in Europe 1 at the end of December 2021: “the doctrine is a maximum of face-to-face exams”, to answer to “the majority request of the students but that there will be substitution sessions”. She also states that “nearly 92% “of them” are vaccinated. Before concluding that the postponement of exams would be “considered on a case-by-case basis and that students will not be sent to catch up”.