Following our what now from our first blog post on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and The Life Sciences Industry, we also posted on the impact on students, and this blog will explore the impact on those who are graduating.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been classified as a health crisis across the globe, schools have been closed until further notice and the government has advised that individuals stay at home and maintain social distancing at all times.
The disruption to our norm is felt by everybody across the globe, with a lot of activities moving to the virtual world.
Parents have been forced to home school their kids, teaching has moved online for college and university students, employees are all working from home. Chaos you say:
Whilst we are all so focused on the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the disruption that’s been caused to our normal daily routine, we have not thought about the impact of this pandemic on education especially graduates.
As a potential graduate, the impact of COVID-19 has resulted in the below:
Abrupt finish to university education - all exams will now be taken online. This is a completely unfamiliar format, although some of the exams are now open book, this can be considered challenging for some
Major concerns about job prospects: “companies might no longer be recruiting this summer, so does this mean I will have to compete with 2 years worth of graduates next year?” - A prospective graduate - Apr 2020
Concerns about exam performance. Having to revise at home with no libraries etc. to aid revision will mean individuals might have the inability to keep their work environment separate from their relaxing environment. This can result in stress and not being as productive as possible
No graduation, summer ball, - All social events have been cancelled with no indication of being rescheduled. This can be upsetting as graduation is a right of passage and not having the opportunity to celebrate can be a devastating feeling.
As a recent or prospective graduate, whose world has been turned upside down, we like to think we could all do with some positive energy. While it’s very clear that job prospects will be heavily affected, It is very important to not give up.
These are the various things you can do as a graduate:
Apply for a Masters Course - you can consider studying for a Masters program in order to delay entering the job market by a year to allow things to get back to normal
Lack of no detriment policy should theoretically reduce final year exam pressure
Spend time with family - whether we like it or not, we’ve all had to spend quality time with our families which we never get enough
Register for online courses.
We are all in this together!
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