Passed: March 2022 (15th)

What do you want? / Why do you want it? 

The University of Leeds has been teaching both online and in-person for the whole start of 2022.  

Some lucky students have attended multiple in-person lectures while other students only go to in-person lectures once every 3 weeks. Many students gather in the library as well as in the union and events organised within the University, yet we still suffer from an inconsistent education.  

Most schools and lecturers never told us the reasons behind their online teaching and the lack of seminars even once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.  

Moreover, we haven’t been provided any support on how to write essays or undergo our exams. In my course group chat, most of us have complained about our grades not being representative of the teaching that we’ve had and the hard work that we've provided. Moreover, a lecture which is supposed to be one hour, for example, can take more than 2 hours online and this is especially an issue with people with learning difficulties. As a person diagnosed with ADHD, I find it harder to find the motivation and stay focused at home when many distractions surround me.  

Psychological studies established that having an unusual environment to study led us to retain more information. So, staying at home doesn’t help us. Yet, the university doesn’t grade us differently than previous students who were taught in person. Learning with online teaching not only has an impact on our studies but also our social life. Most students struggle to make friends and find housemates.  

The pandemic changed most of how education is delivered in universities. The University of Leeds failed to support the online learning of its students. As a consequence, I would like the university to take into consideration that online teaching has been implemented as we were studying. Students of the year 2020 have seen and lived through the progression of online teaching. Most of us students are between 19 to 23 years old: we brutally stop our pre-university studies due to covid and faced a sudden change from in-person to online learning. It hasn’t only been a new way of approaching studies for the university but also for us students and most of us have a strong feeling that the university failed to support us along the way.  

Therefore, I would like the university to consider the lack of support that they have been given us around online teaching and find a way to reconsider our grading schemes. I would therefore like students who lacked support to be regraded and to be provided more support and information about how to write specific essays and what is expected of us in exams (especially international students who don’t really know how English universities work). I would also like the university to give more support to students with learning difficulties and international students. Students with learning difficulties might not know that they face difficulties until they discuss them with someone, maybe the university could take more measures to ensure their well-being. 

I would like the university to let international students know in advance if any changes are made in their timetables so they can arrange their journey to England. Moreover, I would like the university to give us more support on the social scale, perhaps organising gatherings to find housemates or in between course mates… Overall, I would like the university to take more measures to ensure the well-being and academic growth of its students.