The forgotten victims of Covid lockdowns

Many students who embarked on their university courses in September 2020 will have graduated this summer. Many will have done so without grades, with blank certificates issued at ceremonies. These same graduates may have had their A-level examinations cancelled and replaced with a faulty algorithm during the pandemic. 

Some may wonder whether it was worth it. Student debt can exceed £50,000 after three years, yet the graduate premium is shrinking: even after five years, one third may find themselves working in “non-graduate” roles. Rishi Sunak warned last month that young people were being sold a “false dream” that could leave them enrolled on a “poor-quality course” without the prospect of a “decent job” at the end.

When we contemplate the impact of lockdowns on young people, the emphasis is typically on school pupils. Five year-olds with no social skills. “Ghost” children who never came back after schools reopened. Parents reporting lost confidence. This alone should cause us to question whether lockdowns were a success – and whether they should be implemented for longer, as some suggest, if similar circumstances arise again. 

But it is students who are the forgotten victims of the Government’s pandemic response. A university education is supposed to be a life-enhancing, formative experience. For many, it is the first taste of independence. For the class of Covid-19, however, there was no freshers’ week or socialising. Lockdown students were consigned to their bedrooms to learn online, though the virus was unlikely to make them seriously ill.

As with schools, pandemic disruption to higher education has been compounded by industrial action. The University and College Union (UCU) is seeking a pay hike that matches inflation (RPI) plus 2 per cent, and has engaged in strikes and marking boycotts to achieve those aims. There are concerns over whether even normal marking is properly carried out, given the massive grade inflation that has occurred over the past decade. But not to bother marking at all is a dereliction of duty and raises questions about the appropriateness of lecturers’ contracts. Graduating with no final grade puts job offers and postgraduate study at risk. Many will feel the sting of knowing their well-researched dissertations may never be read.

The UCU will today hold a meeting for a new ballot for walkouts that would start in autumn. England’s largest teachers’ union has called off strikes planned for the autumn and its members have voted to accept a 6.5 per cent pay rise. We must hope industrial action by university staff can be brought to a similar resolution, without unduly rewarding the way they have disadvantaged their charges and their parents.