Zoom, for all its benefits, cannot replace campus-life. No doubt it’s serving a great purpose at the moment, but that’s only because of the pandemic. Once this is over (and it will be), students will want to come back to campuses.
And research shows they want to.
A comprehensive survey by QS gives insight into prevailing student sentiment (as of June this year). For now, the overwhelming belief (and hope) seems to be that changes are temporary. 82% of respondents said they’d like to start their global ed journey this year (42%), or the next (40%). Of the students who admitted that the crisis had altered their plans, most are choosing to defer or postpone their education (55%), while only a few have definitely chosen not to pursue their global ed dreams for now (7%). So clearly, despite the virus, students are gearing up to pursue their education as planned (or just a little later). And they aren’t alone.
With social distancing measures in place, many universities are preparing to welcome students back. In fact, many have already announced their intention to reopen in the fall. Purdue, for instance, has announced that it will open this fall; The University of Florida has shifted its term back by a week, and Notre Dame has decided to start the semester early. Columbia has decided to open its labs (at the very least). The UC campuses have decided to deliver the first semester of classes online (until things are normal), while institutions like University of Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Edinburgh and Warwick, amongst several others have designed a hybrid curriculum (these could, of course, change – but this is the status as of now).
From leading education hubs around the world, the message seems clear: these are simply provisional measures until things are better, and when they are, it will be business as usual.