Brazil had the highest percentage saying their mental health suffered, at 76%, followed closely by the United States (75%), Canada (73%) and the United Kingdom (70%).

At 25%, Italy had the lowest number of students who said their mental health had suffered, followed by Russia (29%), China (38%) and South Korea (39%). Kenya, the only African country among the 21 countries in the survey, mirrored the global average with 56%.

According to Lila Thomas, the head of Chegg, between 20 October and 10 November 2020, her company had commissioned Yonder Consulting Limited, the London-based market research and opinion polling firm to undertake a survey on the lives, hopes and fears of university students around the world in the age of COVID and beyond.

As Thomas pointed out, Chegg’s survey appears more like a scorecard that details obstacles and challenges that the current university undergraduate student population is going through in their universities and countries during and probably after the COVID-19 pandemic.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel in that, despite mounting learning challenges and pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and by widening economic disparities, 56% of the students surveyed still felt optimistic and ready for future challenges in the years ahead.

The study surveyed 2,806 university students living in the UK in June 2020 and found that the universities of Aberdeen and Exeter were the best in the UK student city for providing support during the crisis.

Have current students’ degrees been affected?

A quarter of students believe that coronavirus has had a negative effect on their ability to achieve their degree qualifications. Students at Plymouth University and the University of Sheffield felt that their degrees were most affected, with 39 and 35 percent respectively agreeing that the pandemic has affected their ability to achieve their degree qualification. 

Conversely, only 13 percent of students at Exeter felt the same way. This may be related to the fact that students at Exeter voted their university the best for communication, as observed above.

Value for money in doubt 

Shockingly, only one in 10 students believe they’re receiving value for money for their education during the pandemic. Scottish students felt they were getting the best value for money, with the lowest scoring city, Brighton, only achieving two percent in this indicator.

Despite almost all education being shifted online, less than two-thirds of students across the UK have been provided with free online learning resources. This is despite the UK government announcing that UK students will pay the full £9,250 annual tuition fee even if universities are still closed in the autumn. 

Almost 30 percent of universities have provided access to online counselling – despite this, a staggering 73 percent of students are unsatisfied with university mental health support, according to the same NatWest study.