Over half of students say they’d drop out if all teaching was online, Tab poll reveals

Over half of students polled by The Tab say they’d drop out if all lectures were online, as experts issue warnings that classes may not be back to normal even in September.

We asked asked 9,500 students and 53 per cent said they’d drop out if all their lectures and seminars weren’t in-person.

With face-to-face classes cancelled for the foreseeable future, one Higher Education expert warned that the disruption may last until past September.

Oxford Uni’s Professor Simon Marginson said: “Realistically, we are not going to see a return to face-to-face education in September.”

Over 300,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to reimburse students’ tuition fees. “All students should be reimbursed of this years tuition fees as universities are now online only due to COVID-19, with only powerpoints online for learning materials which is not worthy of up to £9,250,” the petition reads. It is currently awaiting a response from the government.

Marginson said unis would need to cut fees if face-to-face lectures didn’t return, to reflect the fact that online learning “needs to be seen as a substantially different product, a different educational experience”.

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