Update Coronacrisis:
Results Studentsurvey
Introduction
First of all, we would like to thank everyone who gave their input through our survey. We have started processing all the information that you have sent us. We have passed on a lot of things to our faculty (e.g. to our dean, other professors and the study counsellors) and the university. Many of you have also indicated that you believe you are not being heard, so we would like to show that this is certainly the case and summarize the most important, recurring topics. Then we would like to outline what is being done with this input and what has already been achieved.
Would you like to add or respond to something? You can still send things anonymously via our survey and we are also available throughout the block and exam period via info@foso.be or Facebook.
Online Lectures & Group Works
In general, it can be said that students evaluate the online lectures well, despite the circumstances. However, there are some remarks that often recur. For starters, professors and assistants are sometimes not punctual when it comes to uploading their course materials. For instance, the online lectures are not coming online consistently at the promised times, which makes it difficult to maintain structure throughout the week. The variation in quality of online lectures between courses is another issue that is mentioned: some professors have recorded online lectures with good audible and visual clarity, while others were difficult to understand. In addition, some professors make longer online lectures than usual, which increases the processing time even more.
The course of the various group works is less well evaluated, and often has to do with the online working environment. Many students argue that it is not easy to collaborate exclusively via Skype and/or Toledo. It was difficult to collaborate well and compare findings, e.g. during a brainstorm or when reviewing the results of an interview. Poor internet connections regularly create even more problems so that calling or video chatting is sometimes impossible.
Studies, assignments & the thesis
The topic of school-life balance is also shown in the results. It is widely reported that students have many concentration difficulties due to a number of causes, including the increased work pressure, poor study environment, expectations as a family member at home to do household chores, difficult living situations at home,…
The different types of situations in students’ homes mean that they do not have enough time to keep up with the lectures as they would in a normal academic year. It often feels as if the block period has been ongoing since March. Students thus request time to repose, especially now that the measures of the security council are being relaxed and there are more opportunities for many people to meet up with friends and family. However, students still have to wait until the beginning of July and in the meantime, they hope that the measures will not be tightened up again.
With regard to the thesis defence, concerns about Skype and the poor internet connection are repeatedly expressed, and what impact this could have on their points. As the student representatives, we always advise you to contact the ombudsperson service if you have problems with this during an exam or thesis defence and you can no longer reach the professors.
Exams
There are concerns for both the on-campus and off-campus exams. On-campus is often about getting to the campus and the anxieties that revolve around it. Students indicate that they are afraid to come to campus as well as the transport to the campus and the sometimes poor connections by train or bus, especially for exams that take place early in the morning. There is also still too much uncertainty as to how the exams will turn out: How are things being arranged in the auditoriums? Where are the new locations? How will social distancing be done in the auditoriums?
The off-campus exams are accompanied by similar concerns as the group work and thesis defences, namely problems with an unstable internet connection. It is also unclear for some students how this will work in practice, while some students already have their first off-campus exams in the next two weeks. Apart from the technical aspects, there are also questions about the level of difficulty of the exams. With the switch from closed to open-campus exam forms, there is also the fear that the exams will become much more difficult.
Mental Well-being of Students
Implicit in the issues we previously raised is the predicament of mental well-being. Almost every student has indicated that they are confronted with stress and a feeling of disorientation. The pressure of digital education and the switch to replacement assignments is now definitely noticeable among students. Some students indicate that they have lost family members and/or friends, others their family/household has fallen “flat” and currently have to jump in everywhere. Many people expressed that the university does not take the current situation into account and expect that the same performance will have to be given during the exam period, while for many this is not possible.
It is also often indicated that students are suffering from depression and are now reluctant to participate intensively in these circumstances for more than a month. Some students also indicate that they do not know where to go or that the threshold to professional help is too high. This threshold manifests itself mentally (“I find it difficult”, “I find it scary”), but also financially, as the psychologists of the Student Health Centre are too expensive.
Utilisation of this input
If all the answers to this survey are put together, you will get a document of about 50 pages long. So we decided that it would be best to summarise everything as concisely as possible. The document with the original answers will be sent to our dean Professor Eggermont and the faculty staff. In doing so, they can draw important conclusions from it so to notify them of the concerns of their students. Thus, some problematic issues (e.g. the communication around the exams) can be dealt with more quickly. Furthermore, the professors of our faculty will also be informed about the precarious situation in which many students have to prepare and take their exams. Thus, they are certainly aware that many students do not have an easy time taking the exams in a normal way. Several people from the faculty have indicated that they are very happy with this input and that they will certainly start working on it.
During the past couple of weeks, additional discussions with our rector Professor Luc Sels took place. FOSO, together with student representatives from other faculties and the Student Council, were able to ask specific questions about the measures taken by KU Leuven and the upcoming plans of our university. Your input was particularly useful here, because we knew, for example, that many students urgently wanted more information about the course of examinations that took place physically. That is why we explicitly asked the Rector to distribute more information as soon as possible about how this is arranged instead of waiting for “explanation videos” that will follow later. The promised information can be found in an e-mail sent by Rector Sels.
We also mentioned that many students are afraid of their grade and that there is a demand for e.g. lowering the threshold for passing a course (for example to a 9/20) and/or adjusting the study progress measures. As you can also read in the mail, the rector replied that KU Leuven will not lower anything in advance, but they are willing to look into this as soon as the results of the June session are available. In this way, it will be possible to look more adequately at which relaxations could be proportional to the students’ grade, dixit Rector Luc Sels. We as student representatives will certainly keep an eye on the situation, and will try to keep you updated whenever possible.