I remember the week where the ball dropped regarding the severity of the pandemic. Week eight of Semester Two in my final year of my BA in History. On Friday 13 March 2020 – a superstitiously fitting date – university life as I knew it changed rapidly. Exams were cancelled. Our graduation was postponed. Teaching went online. Without knowing it, I had had my last in-person seminars. The possibility of working in the library evaporated, along with access to books, archives, and computers. With three essays and a 10,000-word dissertation still to write, the stress mounted.
Many university students were unable to access their education with the shift online.
“Digital Poverty” refers to the idea that one may be excluded in society because of inadequate access to technology. The University of Cambridge argues that “Digital exclusion is yet another manifestation of the profound inequality which casts its shadow over the UK.”
Josie – an MA student – experienced issues accessing her education online. Before the pandemic, Josie’s laptop broke. Living on a student budget, she could not afford a new one. Before the pandemic, she thought it “was not a big deal because I can go and use the university computers in the library”.
Yet, as the pandemic escalated, universities closed their libraries. Josie “spent a week stressing trying to find a laptop”. She stated that “I need a laptop otherwise I am screwed, because I will have no access to anything, and I won’t be able to write anything.” The Office for Students (OfS) found that 18% of students lacked access to a computer during lockdown. As a student myself, I understand how reliant we are on technology. Before the pandemic, one needs adequate technology to research, write, and submit essays, and to access weekly readings.
Josie managed to get a laptop from her university on an extended loan. Physically getting a laptop, however, came with risks. Her university could not guarantee that a laptop would be available. Therefore, Josie had to make the potentially dangerous (and possibly unsuccessful) journey into central London at a time when cases were increasing exponentially. Josie stated that this experience was “stressful”, and that “my mental health is the lowest it’s ever been”.
She described her university’s response as “blasé”. A university should not have a “blasé” response to a global pandemic, especially not when students – like Josie – are paying thousands of pounds every year to study there. Furthermore, Josie stated that the university telling her she could borrow a laptop came across “almost as if it was obvious”. Yet, this information was not online. Clearly, a lack of communication from the university added to the stress of acquiring a laptop.
Josie stresses that whilst “the department were fantastic”, the issues lay with the university more widely. Universities have a duty of care to their students both pastorally and regarding students’ access to the education they are paying for.
Access to a computer or laptop is not the only barrier. Adequate places to work, affordable but efficient internet, and access to online resources are additional barriers. According to the OfS, 71% of students lacked a quiet workspace.
Josie recalls how “I was working from my bed essentially all of summer, and there were building works going on below me […] [I had] no quiet place to work at all. The only place I could work was the pub I work in, but obviously, that’s a bit shit, because then I would be at work all day.” The difficulty to separate work from relaxation is not constructive in helping one’s mental health. Furthermore, working from bed is awful for posture, eyesight, and focus. Libraries provide sufficient workspace. Many students will not have adequate workspace at home. It is wrong to assume that people, generally, can “Work from Home” as the Government requests.
So what is being done to help students?
During lockdown, most UK Universities introduced new ‘Extenuating Circumstances’, including the ability to self-justify the lack of access to technology, inadequate workspace, or insufficient online resources. Additionally, one could submit their assessment’s late. As a crisis response, this was, arguably, sufficient. In the long-term, however, these measures are not enough. They do not address the cause, but merely deal with the effect. The issues of the pandemic are still occuring even if the initial lockdown has passed.
Now, at many UK universities, students are required to book a library slot a week in advance. Josie describes this like “booking concert tickets”, as they sell out very fast. Is the library the new Glastonbury?
The importance of technology in education is not unknown to the UK Government. In April 2019, the Department for Education stated that “technology has the potential to transform educational experiences”. In September 2020, the Scottish Government announced that they would invest “£5 million” into “additional student support”.’ In April 2020, Gavin Williamson MP – the Education Secretary – announced “Laptops or computer devices will be provided” for some Year 10 pupils, but that “it will be up to schools or local authorities to decide”. Whilst this offers some solution, it does not go far enough, nor does it help university students. Firstly, this announcement was only for GCSE students. GCSE’s are compulsory, university is not. However, 50% of school leavers go to university. Therefore, university students are not insignificant and need to be considered. Secondly, to delegate decision making to local authorities means that that ‘Digital Poverty’ is intertwined with national geography.
With education set to stay online, perhaps more solid measures should be implemented. Universities could, perhaps, provide students with laptops. Often, students with a disability are already provided with a laptop. So, this is hardly an extreme suggestion. Additionally, adhering to Public Health guidelines, universities should prioritise workspaces for those who need it most. These should be national policies, so that no matter where you study, there is support available.
It is said that ‘Knowledge is power’. Yet, if access to technology increasingly determines one’s access to knowledge, how are people today going to be empowered?
Beyond university students and “Digital Poverty”, there lays a deeper question: How committed is the UK Government to achieving a more equal society?
Written by Amanda Haest
Image courtesy of Marvin Meyer via Unsplash. Image license can be found here. This image has not been altered or changed.
