The case for a no detriment policy: mental health

With another national lockdown imposed upon the population, students’ mental health is again being impacted; inevitably having a knock-on effect on academia, it’s time to reinstate a no detriment policy.

Image from Flickr.

On January 4, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new lockdown restrictions for England as a measure to battle the new variant of Covid-19. During his speech, Johnson addressed the additional strain on GCSE and A-Level students, who will be moving from face-to-face teaching to online learning, stating that it would not be “fair for all exams to go ahead this summer as normal.” This begs the question: what about the millions of university students who have been enduring online learning since as far back as September?

Needless to say, many university students have been left outraged at the lack of attention directed towards them, both by the government and their respective institutions. A mental health survey conducted by the London Tab with over 729 participants showed that 89 per cent of pupils feel that their mental health has been negatively impacted. More than half of London university students have also considered dropping out since the beginning of the academic year. Similar polls throughout social media have replicated these results, with an average of 85 per cent of students claiming to have suffered negatively after just one term of “distanced” learning and a further 80 per cent expressing disappointment about the lack of support they have been offered.

When asked about her experience with mental health at UCL, one finalist reading Languages said, “It all seems quite superficial. Admittedly, universities are in a hard place but the blasé attitude is actually quite worrying. For April, I will have to have written a total of 20,000 words in the span of three weeks. Is this reasonable?”

Another student in his final year of studying Economics agreed with the above sentiment stating, “There’s no help with the workload. It’s overwhelming and has left me feeling helpless.”

Not only do final year students have to graduate into a suffering economy but they are also expected to continuously submit work at a high standard, without much room for failure: for most students, all final year modules count towards the classification of their degrees. However, in light of the new lockdown measures, which increasingly prevent students from accessing university facilities, more and more pupils have taken to demanding the return of a no detriment policy. The policy was first introduced in the second term of 2020, allowing for a certain number of modules to be discarded from the average for that academic year. Adopted by numerous Russell Group universities, it was enforced to ensure that “no student will be academically disadvantaged by the current situation”. The question is, how is the situation any better now?

Whilst universities begin to consider reinstating the policy, it is important to reiterate the issues most commonly voiced by students whose mental health has been negatively impacted:

• Reduced quality of teaching

• The inability to access university facilities including many libraries

• Unrealistic demands and expectations for the work required

• The financial strain of expensive rent and bills

• Toxic or otherwise unaccommodating environments for learning

• The cancellation of many internships, spring weeks, and part-time jobs

• Isolation

Protests and disappointment about the lack of support offered by universities this year has often been expressed through the anonymous confessions pages of Facebook. “UCLove” is an example of a popular outlet for students to voice the need for another no detriment policy. One submission (#UCLove3683) wrote that the no detriment policy of 2020 came at a time when most students had already completed the majority of their coursework, arguing that the necessity for a no detriment policy this year therefore exceeds that of last year. Many have since echoed this sentiment:

“I honestly feel like if universities do not present a no detriment policy this year, it would be a disservice to all students” – 3rd year student of Theoretical Physics.

Fortunately, students are not without voice. A petition for the reinstatement of the no detriment policy at UCL has already garnered over 3,400 signatures. If you too have been negatively affected by the workload this year, sign the petition here.

Pi Opinion content does not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial team, Pi Media society, Students’ Union UCL or University College London. We aim to publish opinions from across the student body — if you read anything you would like to respond to, get in touch via email.