KEY TAKEAWAYS
Six in ten students (60%) worldwide say that the pandemic ruined their college or university experience, while nearly four in ten students (39%) worldwide say that the pandemic will permanently damage their employment prospects.
Nearly two-thirds (66%) of students worldwide would rather their university offered the choice of more online learning if it meant paying lower tuition fees.
57% of students worldwide have struggled to afford either housing costs, utility bills, food, or medical treatment/services in the last 12 months.
Nearly one-third (32%) said their mental health worsened since starting on campus or returning to campus after lockdown restrictions.
FOREWORD
Since our first ground-breaking Global Student Survey was published in 2021, much has happened in the world – and in education. Following the first wave of the global COVID-19 pandemic, students returned to colleges and universities: some for in-person learning, others for a mixture of online and classroom teaching. At the same time, new COVID-19 variants emerged and made their way around the world, causing further waves of infection and postponing the “back to normal” that everyone had hoped for. At time of writing, the world also faces a protracted conflict on the European continent – something we thought could not happen again.
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As a result, not only are students having a challenging and disorienting time as they resume their studies – they are also graduating into a shifting global economy with an uncertain future. Questions remain for many over how strongly their degree will relate to their eventual profession or the wider workplace, and about the value for money of their education generally.
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We at Chegg recognised that we needed a new global survey to find out how students were managing the transition from lockdowns to campus life. 2022’s Global Student Survey looks at the same 21 countries as in 2021, asking new questions on climate change, skills and careers, how students’ mental health has coped with returning to college, and a variety of other issues. It also provides national and global data that we believe can help inform education professionals and policymakers on students’ feelings and motivations as they are today.
Our survey reveals that around the world, there is widespread dissatisfaction amongst students over how COVID-19 has affected their education. A staggering six in ten students (60%) worldwide say that the pandemic ruined their college/university experience. Financial concerns predominate: less than two-thirds (64%) of students globally agreed that their university education is good value for money, and nearly six in ten (59%) said that, if it were cheaper, they would prefer their university degree take a shorter amount of time to complete.
Not only is the latter an increase from 2021 (when just 54% said the same), but the number of students expressing this view increased in almost every country surveyed, apart from China, India and the US.
In fact, there are increasing signs that the return to campus following lockdowns has not been the panacea that many in higher education hoped for. While 39% of students worldwide said their mental health had improved since starting on campus or returning after lockdown restrictions, a clear majority either said that it had worsened (32%) or that it had made no difference (28%). Of those students whose mental health had worsened after returning to or starting on campus, 43% attributed it (in whole or in part) to the different college/university experience, 52% to lost confidence/ social skills during lockdown, and 31% to preferring to study from home.
Financial worries and cost of living challenges are often contributing factors to poor mental health and anxiety. Regrettably, our survey found that 57% of students worldwide have struggled to afford either housing costs, utility bills, food, or medical treatment/services in the last 12 months. Similar worries also appeared when thinking about future finances: nearly four in ten students (39%) worldwide said that the pandemic will permanently damage their employment prospects. And, when we asked students what the single biggest issue facing their generation was, economic issues were squarely at the top: 28% said “access to good quality jobs” – more than any other response – followed by 23% who said “the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer”.
Looking further into the future, our survey also revealed that the majority of today’s students are taking climate change very seriously. Nearly three quarters (74%) of students worldwide say they worry about climate change, and of those that do, 20% worry about it once a day or more, and 43% worry about it once a week or more. Moreover, nearly one-third (32%) of students say that they have reduced their meat consumption in the last five years due to environmental concerns, while a similar number (29%) say that climate change will have an impact on their decision whether to have children.
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Nonetheless, despite all these many concerns, students are looking to the future with an abundance of hope. More than half (55%) of students worldwide say they currently feel optimistic, and 70% say that all things considered they feel happy. On a practical level, nearly two-thirds (63%) say that they feel hopeful about their finances in the future – and 68% say they believe they will own their own home before they are 35 years old.
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In the years ahead, today’s students will be charged with meeting some of the greatest challenges in history, including widening inequality, automation, and climate change. At present, they are going through one of the most difficult times in their lives. That means that everyone in the education ecosystem must strive to give them a learning environment that truly supports them as well as cultivates their dreams, insights and creativity – empowering them rather than restricting them. If we do this, then the class of COVID-19 can still break new ground, create fresh opportunities, and protect our global society well into the future.
OTHER KEY FINDINGS
1. Access to good quality jobs is the biggest issue facing their generation, according to students from around the world. 28% of students said “access to good quality jobs” was the biggest issue facing their generation, followed by 23% who said “the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer”.
2. More than two-thirds of students (68%) worldwide think that their education is preparing them well for the job market, with just 14% disagreeing.
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3. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of students worldwide said that they feel hopeful about their finances in the future, with just 16% disagreeing. Only 3 countries surveyed (Italy, Japan, Turkey) had less than 50% of students agreeing.
4. 68% of students worldwide said they believed they would own their own home before they were 35, while just 15% disagreed.
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5. Nearly two-thirds (66%) of students worldwide said that their country is a good place to live – slightly up from 64% in 2021 – while 16% disagreed.
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6. 70% of students worldwide said that all things considered they felt happy, while just 13% disagreed.
7. More than half (55%) of students worldwide say they currently feel optimistic – compared to one-quarter (26%) who say they currently feel pessimistic.
ABOUT CHEGG.ORG
Chegg.org is the impact, advocacy, and research arm of Chegg, Inc. addressing the issues facing the modern student. For more information, visit chegg.org
ABOUT CHEGG
Millions of people all around the world learn with Chegg. No matter the goal, level, or style, Chegg helps learners learn with confidence. We provide 24/7 on-demand support, and our personalized learning assistant leverages the power of artificial intelligence (“AI”), more than a hundred million pieces of proprietary content, as well as a decade of learning insights. Our platform also helps learners build essential life and job skills to accelerate their path from learning to earning, and we work with companies to offer learning programs for their employees. Chegg is a publicly held company and trades on the NYSE under the symbol CHGG. For more information,
visit www.chegg.com
ABOUT THE RESEARCH
Chegg.org commissioned polling company Yonder (formerly Populus) to conduct the survey. Yonder interviewed 17,170 undergraduate students aged 18-21 in 21 countries between 4th and 25th January 2022. The countries included in the research are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the UK, the US and Russia. Sample sizes ranged from 507 to 1,037 in each country. Global results represent the combined findings of the 21 countries studied. Yonder is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. For more details go to: www.yonderconsulting.com.