The results always provide profound insight into student life in higher education and with a sample size of over 10,000 this year, they can firmly be relied upon for understanding how students are dealing with the new normal after years more heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps the most substantial discovery this year was how significantly the cost of living crisis is influencing the student experience. Three in four have felt the effects of the economic climate, while over half have had to seek out paid work to support their studies.
To gain a first-hand insight into how this financial squeeze was affecting students, we spoke to Andrew Wilson – LLB Law and Criminology student at the University of Derby and their Union of Students’ EDI Disability Officer.
“Everyone has [felt the effects of the cost of living crisis] really, and a lot of the students in my year have had to skip lectures to go to work, to pick up the shift so they can pay the bills.
A lot of the books that we buy, we only need for one term or one part of the degree, and it’s not necessarily what we’re going into. For example, all the students on my course had to buy the land law book, but only perhaps five of the students want to study land law out of 100.
Is it really worth paying, for example £60, for one book when you’re only going to need it for one term?”
Beyond their immediate financial struggles, the cost of living crisis forcing more students into paid work brings about new challenges regarding availability. As Andrew confirmed, students are being forced to miss lectures to pick up shifts to support their studies.
How are students able to access their library to secure potentially limited copies of an essential textbook if they aren’t physically able to get there because of a part-time job?
For Andrew, the solution is a simple one – the Kortext eBook platform.
“Kortext is a great platform. The way it works with University of Derby is that one student has access to every book in the Kortext library, regardless of whether it’s on a borrowed basis or whether it’s given to them through their course.
Furthermore, for neurotypicals like my friend Josh, he doesn’t have to carry around these books. If he goes to work when he’s on a break, he can sit there and read it on his phone or his iPad and do revision while he’s at work, rather than having to carry the books to and from as well. So, it just makes life easier.”
Another significant discovery of this year’s SAES by AdvanceHE is that there has been a slight increase in students whose expectations were met by their academic experience. However, for those whose expectations were not met, the survey discovered that a lack of independent study support was the biggest factor.
Nowadays, more students are studying remotely than ever before, including in entirely different countries to their institution. Therefore, it is essential that the digital campus delivers as high a quality a student experience as the physical one.
Andrew went on to discuss how platforms like Kortext can support independent learning in a collaborative sense:
“With Kortext you can set up group functions between certain modules so you can share. You can write a note in the book and keep it for yourself, or you can share it between all your friends in the group. Better yet, a lecturer can set up the group for that module for that book and then share notes to everybody all at the same time.”
All the while, this year’s survey found that mental health and wellbeing remained the dominant factor influencing student dropout. Being an advocate for mental health awareness himself, Andrew spoke in detail about how he personally looked to mitigate these concerns at the University of Derby.
“For me, being an officer for the Union of Students. I make students fully aware of who I am and where I am.
If they need to talk, they can talk to me about anything and everything. And even if it’s not a disability related issue, come to me and I’ll take you to the right person. If you need someone to sit there with you, then I’ll talk to you.
I had one student in the first year. She had a lot of anxiety and a lot of stress. She was skipping a lot of lectures and she was afraid that because her attendance had dropped and her marks had dropped, that she was not going to get into the second year.
So, I talked through what she needs to do explained and everything. I arranged an appointment on her behalf with her personal academic tutor. She sat down with her perfectly fine, had a nice chat, got to know her, realised how friendly and nice she was, and then hopefully she’s back next year.
She’s decided not to drop out.”
Kortext are also able to also support student completion and wellbeing by working with Solutionpath, which makes this process even more streamlined. Detailed insight and analytics of the student’s activity allow trends to be spotted earlier, as Andrew went on to discuss in direct relation to mental health and wellbeing:
“Nottingham Trent University are working with Solutionpath and Kortext and they’ve got their own call centre. It allows them to be proactive rather than reactive. So, if they see a student pull away for a couple of days or skip a week, they know to phone them up and ask if anything is wrong.
They can know which areas the student is declining in, so they can offer that specific support before the student may even know that they need that support.”
In conclusion, the results of the 2023 Student Academic Experience Survey only further emphasise the need for higher education institutions to embrace their digital transformation.
With access to a platform like Kortext, students enjoy the highest quality learning experience that isn’t compromised by the need to support their studies with paid work. All the while, student completion and wellbeing can be promoted through the use of invaluable tools such as Solutionpath.
Want to read more? Take a look at our blog on rethinking student engagement.
