Students experience more stress and symptoms of depression because of the corona measures, writes minister Van Engelshoven in a letter to the House of Representatives. Student unions raise the alarm: 'We have to be careful that for young people, there won't be a well-being crisis on top of the corona crisis.'

In Ingrid van Engelshoven’s letter to parliament she included the first results of the so-called corona monitor in MBO (secondary vocational education) and higher education. This corona monitor is based on several studies conducted at universities, universities of applied science and MBO’s. The study focused on the quality of education, the work load for employees and the well-being of students.

Stress and loneliness among students

The minister notices that students’ well-being has deteriorated, while students already experienced a lot of stress and pressure before the crisis. ‘They are struggling with loneliness and the self-regulation that remote education demands,’ writes van Engelshoven. The minister also states that many students find it hard to study from home, experience more symptoms of depression and worry a lot about their future studies.

The results match a study that is being conducted at Radboud University at the moment, supervised by professor of Religious Studies Hans Schilderman. The most recent measuring, in September, showed that 90 percent of students miss their fellow students. Furthermore, three out of five is unhappy about the quality of education.

The Dutch student union (LSVb) also raised the alarm about all this. ‘Students should not pay the bill of the corona crisis. We have to be careful that for young people, there won’t be a well-being crisis on top of the corona crisis,’ says chairman Lyle Muns.

Menno Uphoff, chairman of student union AKKU, recognizes these problems. ‘We see that many students are bordering on a burn-out. And that is not that strange. A 14-square-meter student room has become their entire world. They miss social contact. It isn’t possible to replace that by an online Zoom conversation or online class.’ On top of that, students worry about study delay and the costs that come with it, because there are no internships, for example.

More actual classes

The corona monitor also made clear that the work pressure for teachers has increased and that – just like students – they worry about the quality of education. It is harder for teachers to connect with students.

Uphoff has a solution for this last problem: ‘Introducing extra actual classes. This way, students will see each other again, get out of their room and it will make it more enjoyable for teachers to teach.’ The university already rents rooms at De Vereeniging, but Uphoff also thinks of a rotation system. ‘In smaller rooms, groups can rotate weekly. This way, students have more actual classes and it enables more interaction with the teacher.’