Treating online education as a cheap alternative to lectures will be a mistake. At first universities will probably have to allow more preparation time and invest more in training and technology.
Even before the pandemic added to their financial stresses, a survey of international students suggests more than 20,000 were renting beds that are available to them for only certain hours.
Food insecurity affected many students even before the pandemic hit, with international students the worst hit. But students and universities have shown a lot can be done to end the problem.
Women enrolled in STEM courses are often more confident than men, but it hasn’t translated into career success and they are still very much a minority. More needs to be done in workplaces and schools.
Australia’s mature-age students often must juggle work, children and study, are studying off campus and have a higher risk of dropping out. Higher education can do better for these 430,000 students.
Starting out at university can be daunting, even more so amid the uncertainties of a pandemic. But students can maximise their chances of thriving by taking a few simple steps.
Children of parents with degrees are 60% more likely than ‘first in family’ students to want to go to university. The aspiration gap exists throughout school, but equity policies neglect its impacts.
Chinese international students stuck offshore due to border closures face shame, family tension and pressure to give up their dreams of studying in Australia. Some are even being urged to get married.
The residential hall for international and local university students equipped them for a globalised world, more than anything they could learn in a class.
Student mental health was already an issue before the pandemic. And then students felt the strain on all fronts as studies went online and they lost jobs and social contacts.
If nothing is done to reduce university-based Covid-19 infections, each infected student is likely to infect one other person in their household during the winter holidays.
Australia lacks standalone hazing legislation that clearly makes it the responsibility of universities, but courts here and overseas are increasingly likely to find them liable for the harm done.
Rates of suicidal behaviour are higher among South African students than among the general population or students in other countries. Understanding why will help shape prevention efforts.
Students in Australia and overseas are actively comparing their experiences during the pandemic. Countries that support them well will gain an edge in a competitive global education market.
Students who fail units are highly likely to fail again without targeted assistance. But when universities intervene early to support these students, their rate of failure has been nearly halved.
Somayeh Parvazian, National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and Ronnie Semo, National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER)
LSAY is one of the biggest and oldest surveys of its kind in the world. It follows young Australians from the age of 15 to 25 to find out what helps and hinders them along the way.
Of the students with jobs, 60% lost them and and two-thirds of the rest had hours cut. As they struggled, and often failed, to get rents and tuition fees reduced, precarious lives became even harder.
Natalie Skead, The University of Western Australia; Fiona McGaughey, The University of Western Australia; Kate Offer, The University of Western Australia; Liam Elphick, The University of Western Australia, and Murray Wesson, The University of Western Australia
In our law school, lecture attendance averaged just 38% of total enrolments across the semester.