Journeying Back from Pursuing an Education in the UK due\nto COVID-19 \u2013 A Personal Experience<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closure of the\nUniversity <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is well-known that the journey of many students studying\noverseas including my own was cut short due to the pandemic. My university –\nThe University of Sheffield had announced its closure after a report was\nreleased stating that a faculty member of the architecture department had\ncontracted the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The announcement that the semester was to be continued\nonline was given under very short-notice. Lecturers were not given enough time\nto be sufficiently prepared. Thus, after a week of online classes, the\nUniversity announced an early Easter holiday for lecturers to be given\nsufficient time to devise a proper programme with the use of e-resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the holidays, the semester was continued online and it\nwas later announced that all exams were to be conducted through an open-book\nformat online as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flying back to\nMalaysia <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After the closure of the campus, international students were\nencouraged to return to their home countries. I only decided to fly back to Malaysia after\naccommodation services released a statement whereby, we would be able to get a\nrefund for the last term of our contract. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I felt that the UK\u2019s policies in tackling the\nvirus were inadequate. I was quite anxious as well about the possibility of\ncontracting the virus, especially after hearing rumours that international\nstudents who contracted the virus were denied medical assistance. On top of\nthat, I also had friends who unfortunately contracted the virus on the plane\njourney back home, so I was quite conflicted as to whether flying back was the\nright choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Having been back for roughly 2 months now, I am glad I made\nthe decision especially since Malaysia has gone to extreme measures to effectively\nin contain the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n E-Learning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Continuing my studies online was not much of a problem to me\nas I was still able to understand the syllabus and achieve the learning\noutcomes. The University staff were also very considerate and always made sure\nthat we were supported. They held extra drop-in sessions for us to be able to\nspeak to them one-to-one and have them address our concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, many students struggled to understand the topics\nespecially since some academic staff members were on strike for 2 weeks before\nthe announcement of the closure of University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence, many students were frustrated due to the disruption\nof their studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Petitions to Get a\nRefund for Tuition Fees<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many students started signing petitions seeking a refund or\na reduction in tuition fees. They have also been getting help from the Student\nUnion\u2019s President in raising this matter to the committee board. However, thus\nfar their efforts have yet to be fruitful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the petition is still on-going, universities have\nannounced that they have no plans to reduce tuition fees, even for the next\nacademic year as it is understood that they are currently facing severe\nfinancial difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the current rise in unemployment levels, many students\nare struggling to find a way to fund their tuition fees, causing acute panic\namongst many of the more underprivileged students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Online Examinations <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lecturers were considerate towards the predicament that\nstudents were going through and thus decided to simplify the structure of the\nexaminations. For instance, we were given extra time to complete our exams and\nthey were conducted under an open-book format. Furthermore, there was also a\nreduction in the number of essays which we were required to write per module\nand also a reduction in the word count per essay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The exam formats were a lot easier than what they used to be\nconsidering that an originally 3-hour long sit-down closed book Property Law\nexam which required us to write 3 essays was now reduced to a 2 week long open\nbook exam which only required us to write 2 essays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, the University also implemented a \u2018no-detriment\u2019\npolicy where our overall grade for this academic year could only be positively\naffected by the results of this term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence, it is evident that many considerable efforts were\nmade to ease the difficulties faced by us students for the entire term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders, I felt\nthat the open-book examinations served as a disincentive to revise and\nunderstand the syllabus on a deeper level. This was also because the usual exam\nmotivation was absent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, to a certain extent, I felt that I was not\nreaching my full potential in terms of understanding some of the topics.\nBesides, being confined at home also produced an inherent desire to laze\naround, thus reducing productivity overall for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, I acknowledge that the entire situation caused a\nlot of anxiety for many of my mates with some facing additional anxiety due to\nthe economic downturn and the need to care for their loved ones. As the UK\nUniversities have always placed great importance on the mental health and\nwell-being of their students, I understand why they had to make the examination\nprocess so much easier for everyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence, I am grateful for being in the situation that I am\ncurrently in, knowing that many others are still struggling with everything\nthat\u2019s going on. I also do want to commend the University staff for doing an\nexcellent job in tackling this pandemic in terms of the decisions they have\nmade thus far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stepping into the\nNext Academic Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With uncertainties still in the air, everyone is still\nunsure of what university would look like in the next academic year. Some\nuniversities including mine have announced a plan to have a blend of online\nlectures and face-to-face seminars in small groups. Staff members have also\nbeen helping committees of clubs and societies to conduct their activities\nonline and promote registration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, as the situation is considerably unpredictable, the University has yet to give me a definite answer in terms of how the programme will be carried out. As for now, I can only hope for the best that the situation improves and universities return to how they were previously like soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nicholas Lee Heng Jin<\/p>\n\n\n\n The University of Sheffield<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Journeying Back from Pursuing an Education in the UK due to COVID-19 \u2013 A Personal Experience Closure of the University It is well-known that the journey of many students studying overseas including my own was cut short due to the pandemic. My university – The University of Sheffield had announced its closure after a report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1805,"featured_media":7696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[67,69],"tags":[84,85],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7695"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7709,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7695\/revisions\/7709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}