A former University of Lincoln film student tells us what it was like to study during the pandemic

We're hearing from a former Lincoln student who tells us how the pandemic disrupted his learning while studying a practical course.

It comes as thousands of students are to take their universities to court today, demanding compensation for the interference.

The University of Lincoln is not one of those being fought at this stage however.

23 year old Joseph Engledew decided he wanted to go to university to study film production, having always had an interest in it, and wanting to know more after being on a film set.

He said he wanted to know what he was doing the next time he was on set, without having to have someone holding his hand along the way.

Living outside London he decided he would travel anywhere in the country for a course that was right for him, he was focused on the practical side of things rather than essays and exams.

He said:

"I very quickly realized looking around at universities that it wasn't really what I was looking for.

"At most places, they were offering 70% theory and 30% practical, which just seemed ridiculously low to me, because I knew I wouldn't learn in lectures. I wanted to learn practically.

"So when I turned up at the University of Lincoln on the open day, they had a completely different pitch to any other uni."

He told us that the course he was looking at in Lincoln was brand new, and he'd be a part of the very first year group to ever do it.

It was meant to be around 70% practical and 30% theory in which Joseph said

"I couldn't believe my luck, to be honest. I was over the moon. That's exactly what I was looking for, so right on the spot, I was like, this is the place.

"So I thought this would be a really good balance for me, and give me the university experience while also showing me a bit about film, and getting me to make stuff like I planned to right out the gate."

He enjoyed his first year he said, but thought that was mainly theory - the next 2 years were going to be the practical part... until the pandemic hit in the second year:

"It's a heavily practical course, you know, you're getting cameras out, you're making films. So when the pandemic hit, they shut all of that down completely.

"You know all of our practical assignments were thrown straight out the window."

Joseph said that the course just changed to a theory based course with exams and essays rather than hands-on learning.

At the time the first lockdown commenced, he had completed almost 80% of a show reel that was part of an assignment, all shot using quality cameras and equipment the university would supply.

But the assignment got changed, and the camera rental facilities were no longer accessible.

He then decided to ask for a change to the assignment, which would mean he could finish his show reel and submit it, but this meant using a phone for the last few bits.

He said that was disappointing and was picked up on when he received feedback from this because of the low quality of the phone footage.

At that point, he was halfway through his time at university, and kept pushing through:

"I don't wanna just have this be for nothing. I'm here now and I've racked up so much debt already. I might as well see you through, but more and more started getting taken away from us.

"More practical assignments were taken away from us, and the further we got into the pandemic, there became this feeling that we were just a lost cause.

"It was incredibly disheartening, to be honest with you. It felt disingenuous. It felt misleading, and I don't like complaining about it because I feel like it comes across like I'm a bit bitter about it, but it's hard not to feel bitter, especially when it's getting towards the end of our time, when we're going through our final assignments."

We asked if, by the end of it he felt he got his money's worth, in which he responded:

"Quite frankly, no, not even close. I don't think any of us really got what we were paying for, or expected. All of my stuff went to online, and I get maybe you could make online work for something that's very textbook heavy - if you're doing maths or English - it's not going to make a huge amount of difference. But this is a film course, we're meant to have cameras in our hands and understanding how they work."

We also asked him what he felt he missed out on most from university during the pandemic, he said it was the opportunity:

"The university is charging a ridiculously high amount and putting us all in debt, so, it's like we don't really have much chance of getting a real life started at the moment, especially in something like a film degree, which if we're being perfectly honest, doesn't hold a whole lot of academic weight when you're going in for any other sort of job.

"But even in the film industry, they'll turn around and go 'we aren't interested in grades, we're interested in practical skills.' and at the end of the day, I went to university for practical skills, and I came out of it with a handful of theory knowledge."

"So, yeah, that was kind of my university experience. It was over and done with very quickly and it more or less stopped for me, for the moment the pandemic started."

A University of Lincoln spokesperson says:

"Like other universities, our priority throughout the Covid-19 pandemic was keeping our students, staff and wider community safe, responding to government regulation and public health guidance as it evolved. This included guidance on teaching and learning which continued through blended approaches as appropriate. Mitigations were put in place to protect the student experience and ensure students' learning outcomes were met. Support for students at Lincoln was, and is always, comprehensive and wide-ranging."

This story comes as thousands of students are seeking compensation from their university over disruption due to Covid-19 and strikes which will be heard at the High Court today.

Solicitors acting for more than 4,700 current and former University College London (UCL) students will be in court, defending their clients’ right to sue the university for breach of contract.

UCL is asking the court to block the claims.

This is the first case to reach this stage, and the one-day hearing will have a major bearing on multi-million-pound legal actions looming against many other institutions.

There are currently a growing number of cases against British universities as students seek compensation after their education was interrupted during the pandemic and industrial action.

The University of Lincoln is not one that is being fought against.

UCL is insisting that students must first complain to UCL itself, before being allowed access to the courts.

The claimants argue that they are unlikely to receive any compensation via UCL’s own complaints procedure – particularly since UCL wrote in a pre-action letter to the claimants’ solicitors: “UCL is not liable for the decisions by the Universities and College Union to bring industrial action regarding the USS pension scheme or the requirement to restrict physical access to campus and move delivery online due to Covid-19.”

At today’s hearing a High Court Judge will decide whether the students are allowed to pursue their claims in court. If the claim against UCL is allowed to proceed, similar claims will be brought against other universities.

Solicitors have teamed up to help current and former students on a no win, no fee basis to claim compensation after students paid huge tuition fees without any reduction despite spending months facing lesson cancellation, learning via Zoom rather attending the face-to-face lectures they paid for.

Over 100,000 people have already joined group cases via website StudentGroupClaim.co.uk after paying between £9,250 and £40,000 a year for lessons that were cancelled or moved online and restricted access to campus facilities like libraries, labs and study spaces.

The legal team is arguing that universities breached their contract with students by failing to provide in-person tuition and access to facilities that students had paid for.

Despite this, many universities increased their income from student fees over the pandemic, often by considerable amounts. They also boosted their savings, in some cases receiving millions of pounds in Government furlough payments.

StudentGroupClaim.co.uk solicitors have already sent letters of claim to 18 universities seeking damages.

If successful, UK students who were at university in 2020-21 are estimated to win compensation of about £5,000; international students could recover significantly higher sums.

Millions of students were affected, and the total value of compensation could reach into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

Universities which have so far been issued with letters of claim are:

1. Birmingham, University of

2. Bristol, University of

3. Cardiff University

4. City, University of London

5. Coventry University

6. Imperial College London

7. King’s College London

8. Leeds, University of

9. Liverpool, University of

10. London School of Economics and Political Science

11. Manchester, University of

12. Newcastle University

13. Nottingham, University of

14. Queen Mary University of London

15. Sheffield, University of

16. University College London

17. University of the Arts London

18. Warwick, University of

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