With Christmas quickly approaching, many students are looking forward to returning home to their families. But this year’s holidays are not so simple, due to continuing Covid restrictions and differences in tiers between some university towns and Dumfries and Galloway.
Mark Beattie, from Ecclefechan, is still in his accommodation in Glasgow, which until recently was under a Level 4 lockdown. The Murano Halls where he stays were criticised as a source of rising infections early on in the year.
And Mark says that there has since been a clampdown on students’ behaviour, with a frequent police presence enforcing social distancing and handing out fines to students hosting illegal gatherings.
Now, he says, they are continuing efforts to contain the virus’s spread: “The university is offering free Covid tests to students going home for the holidays, to make sure they don’t bring the illness with them.”
But Mark is not returning quite yet: “I’m going to stay until at least the 15th, to have the free Christmas dinner with all the international students who can’t go back home.”
Many of Mark’s friends have dropped out of their courses and he says that one-fifth of the rooms in their accommodation are now empty. Restrictions have been especially difficult for students coming from abroad, who face long quarantine periods if they want to return for Christmas, forcing many to stay in halls for the holidays.
Other students have taken advantage of their new online learning methods to return home early. Because most students have all of their classes remotely, many have been able to avoid being isolated from their families while continuing their studies, including Nicole Hill from Lockerbie.
Also faced with the Level 4 restrictions in Glasgow, she says: “I found it difficult not seeing family, so I decided to travel back a bit early for Christmas.”
The difficulty of not being able to visit family for support is only one of the challenges that students have faced while adapting to taking all of their classes online. But while Nicole says that she is definitely looking forward to the eventual move to in-person classes, “online learning has got easier as it went on.” Mark thinks that online learning “suits him perfectly” and even thinks it will be “difficult to go back to in-person classes, because we’re so used to this now.”
The start of vaccination programs has given students a new hope for experiencing the university life they originally expected, but Mark is keen that universities learn from this year’s experience to change the way classes are delivered in the future.
While he has enjoyed online learning, many of his friends have “fallen behind”. He thinks that universities could continue to offer the option of online classes moving forward, combining with in-person teaching to create a blended method which allows every student to adopt the style of learning which suits them best.
But one part of student life which has been harder to move online is socialising. Although Nicole says she has formed a very close bond with the flatmates who she was been forced to quarantine with, she is especially excited for the possibility of finally having the chance to spend time with new people outside of her flat of four.
Both students are realistic – hopes of a return to normal life are still distant, and they do not predict that they will see many changes to the way the study once they return from their holidays. But after a semester full of new challenges, Christmas will be a much-needed break.
