For many university students, studying during the pandemic has been a challenge. “I know myself and a lot of others are experiencing really bad burnout at the moment,” says Emma Palmer, president of wellbeing and diversity at York St John University students’ union.
The social isolation and lack of part-time jobs caused by Covid-19 lockdowns have hit young people particularly hard. Many students may also be living away from home for the first time. “Over the past year, students have felt isolated from the university and their friends,” says Palmer. “They’ve felt quite demotivated and generally lost, because everyone’s lives have been tipped upside down.”
Nicole Akuezumba, vice-president for welfare and community at the University of Southampton, agrees. “It’s been really difficult this year,” she says. “A lot of students have struggled with the lack of student activities.”
Even as the UK enters a new phase of the pandemic, with more than half the population now having received a first vaccination dose, there will be mental health repercussions for students. It is essential that universities have good policies in place to monitor and support student wellbeing. If they don’t, more students are in danger of dropping out.
So how can universities better look after student wellbeing?
Alan Percy, chair of the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education Expert Group (MWBHE), says many universities have seen an increased demand for support services during the pandemic and that they have responded quickly, shifting their operations online “within a matter of weeks”.
“Universities have put out a lot of initiatives, like podcasts and blogs [that provide advice],” says Percy. Many universities have also set up educational workshops on topics such as coping with low moods and procrastination. “We’re looking to do more of that going forward,” he says.
Ian Dunn, provost at Coventry University, says his university has tried to put together as broad a support package as possible, built on Salesforce. The university has created peer support systems, for example, by using an app to connect students who might be struggling with the same issues. “It allows us to bring people together who have a similarity of experience,” he says.
Digital tools will be important for supporting students in the coming years. Dunn has been using Salesforce.org Education Cloud, which enables universities to better support student engagement and wellbeing. Education Cloud helps university staff like Dunn to gain a clearer understanding of a student’s digital footprint. By using such tools, universities can pick up on changes in students’ behaviour – such as suddenly going to the library a lot more or a lot less – that could indicate a change in student engagement. Support services are then able to reach out and offer help.
“It’s with student permission so it’s not intrusive,” says Dunn. “The work we’re doing with Salesforce allows us to understand and to better help the student,” he says. “Data around learning and wellbeing analytics is something that we’re working really hard on. So we can pick up when students are not engaged in their studies.”
Julio Villalobos, education industry adviser for Salesforce.org, says: “Technology like Education Cloud provides data-informed tools and AI-powered insights, which means that support teams can be proactive in reaching out to students. It enables institutions to connect all the dots across the different teams and systems on a single platform to streamline student support operations.” He says the technology helps universities to be “more efficient, proactive and personalised in their support”.
It is crucial for universities to pick up potential problems early on in order to prevent them from getting worse. Digital tools and analytics can help here, too – while a busy academic with a big class may only notice a problem once a student has missed classes, software platforms can flag problems earlier.
They can also help to ease staff workload and ensure all students are getting support, not just those who contact university services, says Villalobos.
Salesforce’s software uses AI-empowered bots to help students find the resources they are looking for. “It’s crucial that students receive support both on and off campus, exactly when and where they need it,” says Villalobos.
Over the coming years, looking after student mental wellbeing will be more important than ever, and Dunn believes that the data-driven approach to student support trialled during the pandemic is now here to stay. “We’ve learned a huge amount over the past year and I hope we don’t lose some of that,” he says.
“Technology has long been seen as the chance to solve many problems, but there has never been a time where we have had to move so quickly and so creatively to continue doing what we love doing. The combination of new experience, improved technology and a willingness to change, mean that this is a real moment of opportunity to enhance student learning supported through technology.”
Learn more about Salesforce.org’s Education Cloud
