The following is a summary of results from a survey conducted among APU undergraduate and graduate students to get a better look at the profound effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on them and their university lives. Having gained a clearer picture of the overall impact the pandemic has had on students, we will consider ways we can offer better support and strive to improve the quality of education.
Survey Respondents:
Undergraduate | Graduate | Total | |
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Domestic students | 568 | 39 | 607 |
International students | 472 | 1 | 475 |
Total | 1,042 | 40 | 1,082 |
Survey Period: October 23, 2020 - November 9, 2020
1.Survey Highlights
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Topic 1 – Economic Impact on Students: The survey results highlighted the severe economic impact the pandemic has had on students with 83.6% of international students and 50.1% of domestic students selecting either “significant decrease” or “decrease” in response to the question asking how the pandemic has affected their parents’ or guardians’ income. Results also showed a decrease in students’ part-time job income.
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Topic 2 – Online Classes: The majority of both international and domestic students responded that they were not experiencing problems taking online classes.
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Topic 3 – Social Impact on Students: There has been more of an impact on the social lives of new students as the pandemic has prevented the majority of international students from either entering the country altogether or has forced them to push their arrival date back. On the other hand, it appears that upperclassmen have been able to maintain the friendships they formed with fellow students before the pandemic hit.
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Topic 4 – Career Support/Internship Concerns: It was evident from survey responses that students were not only worried about the pandemic’s effect on their finances, but were also concerned about its impact on job hunting and internships.
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Topic 5 – There were many comments, both positive and negative, about online classes in the comments section. A few are shown below.
Thank you for providing me convenient online classes and everything...
Making friends right now is extremely difficult since there are very little chance to meet and interact with people right now. By staying in the room and doing online classes all the time can be very stressful.
2.Survey Results
Detailed survey results can be viewed at the links below.
- Student Survey - October 2020 (Student Life – International Student Responses/Domestic Student Responses)
- Student Survey – October 2020 (Economic Impact – International Student Responses/Domestic Student Responses)
- Student Survey - October 2020 (Student Life – International Student Responses/Domestic Student Responses/Breakdown by Year)
- Student Survey – (Economic Impact – International Student Responses/Domestic Student Responses/Breakdown by Year)