Harrogate student at university feels "cheated" out of the experience
Minty Praud still hasn't been told whether she'll have teaching in person this year
A Harrogate university student has said she's still in the dark about whether she'll have face-to-face teaching this year.
Minty Praud, who finished her A Levels at Ripon Grammar School last summer, went on to study Biomedical Science at the University of Nottingham, but says the year was "very different" to how she imagined.
Twelve months on and she still hasn't been told whether all face-to-face teaching will resume. She was due to go back to Nottingham this week but has chosen to stay at home as all of her orientations have been put online.
She said: "Cheated is probably the best way to describe how I'd feel if we didn't have teaching in person.
"If it's not going to get back to normal now then when are we going to be allowed to go back into lectures?
"They've sold us something completely different to what we're actually receiving. I don't know whether it's going to be the same as last year.
"There's a sense of nervousness because I don't want to go into the same as last year which I found really difficult."
Minty needs to access labs as well as lectures to get the full qualification, but she's worried with limited time spent in them it'll seriously affect her future.
She added: "I'm supposed to be training for something where I need these skills and I'm not getting that.
"It worries me about how employable I'm going to be at the end of this because I'm not getting the experience I need.
"Schools are getting catch up funding but what about universities? Is there any point in having a second year when we're not going to get the right teaching for it? So many people have been vaccinated now so the risk of infection is considerably lower."
"Everyone tells you how amazing the university experience is but for myself and my peers it really has been the opposite.
"I do feel like my whole experience is going to be completely scarred by this."