Studying at home sucks, working from home is fine
Corona crisis has made students and staff gloomy
This is among the results of a survey done by research agency Newcom for UKrant and eight other research university and university of applied sciences magazines in Enschede, Delft, Eindhoven, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Breda, Den Bosch, and Tilburg.
The survey paints a picture of staff and students’ experience of the last few months of lockdown during the corona crisis, in both Groningen and the rest of the Netherlands.
Less energy
Almost four out of ten UG students who filled out the survey say the corona crisis has caused a lot of nuisance (nationally, this is at 48 percent) and that it’s led to physical and psychological issues.
They’re feeling gloomier (64 percent), have less energy (56 percent), and are lonelier (60 percent). More than half the students say they’re more nervous and anxious.
The numbers among UG staff are a little lower. A quarter of people who filled out the survey say the survey has caused a lot of nuisance. More than four out of ten employees (42 percent) are gloomier and more listless and one in three say they’re more nervous and anxious. The national numbers are pretty much the same.
Moreover, staff and students are mainly worried about the pandemic and the lockdown’s impact on the economy (44 and 41 percent), and they’re worried about the health of the elderly and vulnerable (36 and 31 percent, respectively).
Focus
The biggest sore point for UG students was their lack of focus. Three quarters of students say they find it hard to concentrate on studying now that they have to do it all from home. Half of them spend less time studying, and one in five even spends ‘much less’ time with their nose in their books. When asked to judge studying from home, students gave it a failing grade of 4.8 (the national grade was 4.7).
People do appreciate the way the UG had adapted to the situation. More than 60 percent of students rate the UG’s actions as good to very good, while a minority (11 percent) is very unhappy. Elsewhere in the country, students appreciate their research universities and universities of applied sciences similarly.
For UG employees, work stress and work-life balance were still difficult during the corona crisis. These issues were rated at a 5.7 and 6.1, respectively.
From home
Nine out of ten UG employees only work from home. While a quarter of them didn’t like forced working from home at all, half of them would like to continue working from home for one or two days a week after the crisis (one in five indicated they’d like to work from home as much as possible).
Working from home was rated at a 7.1, with working at work getting a 7.4. Employees also think it’s a good thing they’ve been able to spend more time with their families (26 percent) and that they ended up exercising more (20 percent).
Positives for students are that they’ve started to appreciate family and friends more (22 percent), discovered new hobbies (21 percent), and started exercising more.
Sources
The following research university and university of applied sciences magazine participated in this survey: U-Today (University of Twente), Delta (TU Delft), Cursor (TU Eindhoven), DUB (University of Utrecht), Ad Valvas (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Punt. (Avans University of Applied Sciences Brabant), HanzeMag (Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen) en Trajectum (Utrecht University of Applied Sciences).
Four hundred staff members and students at the UG filled out the survey. The results from the various institutes were pooled, creating a national benchmark consisting of 1,202 students and 871 staff members.
This is a survey/indication, not a representative sample.