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Long-term impact of the pandemic on higher education and student wellbeing in the UK and Hong Kong

Iside Costantini
p. 11-34

Résumé

The purpose of this research is to study higher education student perception of their wellbeing during and since the pandemic with a comparative focus on the UK and Hong Kong.
This article evaluates online teaching during the pandemic in the UK and Hong Kong and the levels of student wellbeing as recorded by polls, reports and qualitative surveys, which may vary within the population but also within countries. It also addresses the return to normality, which entails a return to face-to-face but with higher awareness regarding possible disruptions to the system and a new transmission model and offer and concludes on which actions should be taken to enhance student wellbeing over time.

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Texte intégral

Introduction

  • 1 Luis Martinez, “Evolution of Hong Kong Education from Colonial Times through World War II”, (26 Feb (...)
  • 2 OECD, Education at a Glance : OECD indicators, (OECD Publishing, Paris, 2022), https://doi.org/10.1 (...)
  • 3 Self-Determination Theory (SDT) explains that more evolved psychological needs must be satisfied if (...)
  • 4 Ibid.
  • 5 Masood A. Badri, Mugheer Alkhaili, Hamad Aldhaheri, Guang Yang, Muna Albahar, Asma Alrashdi, “Explo (...)
  • 6 Ibid., p. 3.

1This research on student wellbeing during the pandemic has taken a comparative approach to widen the study outside Europe and include other dimensions. Hong Kong can be compared to the UK as it is linked by history even if it has now been a separate territory for 27 years. Hong Kong was ruled as a British colony since 1842, and the British maintained control until 1997, when it was returned to China as a “Special Administrative Region”. During the colonial period, government funding was only going to schools being administered through Western models, which enhanced the quality of British schools along with the Chinese ones which had opened up to Western thought.1The pandemic period refers to 2020 until early 2022 when most measures were removed and where most of the data originates from as a lot of studies were undertaken at the time. The second half of 2021 and first half of 2022 were marked by persistent challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by a gradual return to normality thanks to widespread vaccinations. Although a few countries still had periods of school closures, these were much more limited than during earlier stages of the pandemic.2 This article examines student wellbeing during the pandemic with a comparative focus on the UK and Hong Kong and the extent to which the policies implemented at the time would have lasting effects.  Based on global reports such as the UNESCO’s 2022 “Reimagining more sustainable and prosperous post-pandemic realities - Resuming or reforming?” and the 2022 OECD Education survey, as well as on national surveys led by Chinese and British universities, this research attempts to shed some light on the past and current state of wellbeing as perceived by students in Hong Kong and the UK. It is thus focusing on one aspect of wellbeing via a comparative assessment of student satisfaction. According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT)3, satisfaction of needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness is a universal requirement for psychological wellbeing. A study4 tested this hypothesis with college students in eight different countries including China and concluded on the universal importance of SDT need satisfaction for wellbeing in all cultures.Research reveals many variables are closely connected to life satisfaction, such as general wellbeing measures encompassing individuals’ satisfaction with income, jobs, employment, health, living conditions, social relationships, and connections”.5 Unlike happiness, life satisfaction is a long-term feeling based on achieving life-long goals”.6 Using reports on students’ satisfaction may help understand both subjective and more tangible aspects of their condition at the time of Covid.After a review of online teaching by students, this article addresses the return to normality which entails returning on site but with higher awareness regarding possible disruptions to the system and a new transmission model and offer. It then explores policies which have been taken in both countries, to facilitate a digital transition such as the extensive funding of online teaching by the Bureau of Education in Hong Kong and the programmes of digital upskilling of staff and students defended by Universities UK, and examines the extent to which the short term wellbeing of students has been protected. Finally, it concludes on the actions which were recommended by some of the actors in the field to enhance student wellbeing over time.

Defining wellbeing

2Following the Cambridge dictionary, wellbeing is defined as the state of feeling healthy and happy.7 There is no consensus around a single definition of wellbeing. However,There is general agreement that at minimum, wellbeing includes the presence of positive emotions and moods (e.g., contentment, happiness), the absence of negative emotions (e.g., depression, anxiety), satisfaction with life, fulfilment and positive functioning. In simple terms, wellbeing can be described as judging life positively and feeling good.8 According to the Better Health Channel,9 wellbeing is thus not “just the absence of disease or illness. It’s a complex combination of a person’s physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. Wellbeing is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction.”10 For the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, which regroups federal agencies based in the U.S. that produce health information to support government action, wellbeing is understood as all englobing and as a positive outcome that is meaningful for people and for many sectors of society, including students in higher education. It is a useful tool to show how people perceive to what extent their lives are going well or not.11 Hong Kong has adopted international criteria to assess wellbeing.12 Researchers from the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have been studying quality of life in projects since 1988. But it was only in 2000 that the Hong Kong Council of Social Service developed a Social Development Index (SDI) to measure social development in Hong Kong every two years.13 Since 2003, the Centre for the Quality of Life at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has conducted surveys and published comprehensive indices on wellbeing like the Hong Kong Quality of Life Index.14 As in the previous study by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Hong Kong citizens considered education as a key to success.

Correlation between wellbeing and education

  • 15 In this initiative, each region is measured on eleven topics relevant to wellbeing – income, jobs, (...)
  • 16 UNESCO, UNESCO strategy on education for health and well-being, Health and Resource Strategy Centre (...)
  • 17 UNESCO, Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sust (...)
  • 18 UNESCO, Education 2030, op. cit., p. 9; UNESCO, “Education for health and wellbeing”, (2023), https (...)
  • 19 UNESCO, Education 2030, op. cit., Preamble 5, p. 6.
  • 20 The UN Sustainable Development Group, Policy Brief : Education during Covid 19 and beyond, (August (...)
  • 21 UNESCO, “What you need to know about education for health and wellbeing”, (2023), https://www.unesc (...)
  • 22 OECD Better Life Index. “According to OECD website, while money does not necessarily increase level (...)

3According to an OECD survey with a regional focus on the UK, education regularly appears as one of the most important items to measure wellbeing after safety, usually followed by jobs and health.15 As a leading feature of wellbeing, it seems relevant to examine that of its recipients. The UNESCO stresses that a good quality education is the foundation of health and wellbeing16 and places greater emphasis on the role of schools and education systems in promoting health and wellbeing. This strategy guides UNESCO to promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing of learners. The 2015 Incheon Declaration17 confirms “that education develops the skills, values and attitudes that enable citizens to lead healthy and fulfilled lives, make informed decisions, and respond to local and global challenges”18 and is a “main driver of development”.19 The link between education to health and wellbeing is clear. “Education is not only a fundamental human right [but also] an enabling right with direct impact on the realization of all other human rights”.20 Poor health can have a detrimental effect on school attendance and academic performance.21 Education enables people to get better skilled jobs and supports technological progress thus leading to higher incomes and living standards, which in turn helps increase wellbeing.22

  • 23 Paula Vagos, Lénia Carvalhais, “Online Versus Classroom Teaching: Impact on Teacher and Student Rel (...)

4The spread of education may encourage a higher quality of life within a population but countries should have enough resources at their disposal in the first place to support such a costly system. During the pandemic, online teaching replaced the traditional format and the quality seems to have been questioned in the former, which has had a negative impact on students’ and teachers’ wellbeing. Online teaching is often perceived to be an impersonal experience for students, even if tensions within the group may be lower due to the absence of social interaction. 23

  • 24 UNESCO, Resuming or Reforming? Tracking the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher educat (...)
  • 25 Ibid.

5UNESCO also describes higher education as a fundamental pillar of social change and innovation.24 It is therefore important that measures be identified for sustaining and reinforcing its quality in the long term. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the role of higher education in ensuring the health and wellbeing of citizens, as some university labs accelerated their research to find solutions during the crisis.25

  • 26 Rynke Douwes, Janneke Metselaar, Gerdina H.M. Pijnenborg, Nynke Boonstra, “Wellbeing of students in (...)

6There are of course other factors at play in wellbeing such as personal health, social life, support from relatives, housing, funding even if they are not taken into account in this study. Students mention various factors that influence their wellbeing, from personal and university related factors to more external factors beyond their educational institution. Wellbeing is perceived by students as containing multi-dimensional levels (for instance individual and community) and is associated to feelings of being connected to one’s close environment, such as peers, teachers and family.26

  • 27 Office for Students, “Meeting the mental health needs of students”, Insight Brief (October 2023), h (...)

7The Office for Students in the UK warned about an increasing number of higher education students reporting mental health issues since 2010 (it was seven times higher in 2021-22 than in the past decade) despite a relatively overall low figure (4.5 per cent of full-time students in 2021-22).27

  • 28 Joe Lewis, Paul Bolton, “Student mental health in England: Statistics, policy and guidance”, Resear (...)
  • 29 Ibid.

8Anonymous surveys have nevertheless disclosed higher rates of poor mental health than the Office for Students. In a 2022 survey by the mental health charity Student Minds, 57% of students self-reported a mental health issue and 27% said they had a diagnosed mental health condition.28 The Government has often repeated that universities have a duty of care to their students, but it also admitted in March 2023 that “the existence and application of a duty of care between higher education providers and students had not been widely tested in the courts.29

The funding and governance of universities

  • 30 William Yat Wai Lo and Danling Li, “Reimagining the notion of Hong Kong as an education hub: Nation (...)

9The Hong Kong SAR Government is committed to funding the education sector as part of its policy to turn the region into a centre of learning for Asia. Indeed, Hong Kong has developed as a regional education hub. The emergence of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) which connects universities from Southern China to those in Hong Kong through knowledge exchange and educational cooperation, is gradually changing the educational landscape and integrating Hong Kong to a subnational network with the mainland.30 In parallel to this development, the government in Hong Kong continues to offer support via its Grant policy to selected public institutions in order to encourage innovative programmes and sustain community engagement.

  • 31 The Government raised the cap on tuition fees for new student to £9,000 in 2012/13 and cut most ong (...)

10Public universities in the UK are funded by tuition fees31 and a direct financing from the government but they act more and more as independent bodies which are responsible for taking initiatives in sourcing resources for specific projects. The operational framework is thus different from that of Hong Kong where the local government is still heavily invested in supporting education.

Assessing online teaching quality in the UK and Hong Kong during the pandemic

11The 2022 UNESCO report used for this part provides a comprehensive picture of global higher education ratings during the first two years of the pandemic. It noted that the impact of online teaching depended on its access capacity through the spread of infrastructure and home equipment. International and comparative research report that higher education systems from relatively low-income countries have suffered the most because of the lack of resources and infrastructural support for online education. Besides, differences in educational systems means that the problem and solutions were not dealt with in a synchronous way.

  • 32 UNESCO, Resuming or Reforming?, op. cit., p.12.

12In a 2020 global survey of Higher Education Institutes,32 91% reported having the infrastructure to communicate with their students; the percentages are very high in Asia and the Pacific (99%), Europe (97%), and the Americas (97%), which shows that in the two areas under study for this research, infrastructure was not a hindrance to the provision of online education. However, this does not mean that individual access was homogeneous and of course not all households were equipped with high-speed Internet.

13In 2020, the overall share of households in the UK that had access to the internet was 97 percent and was six percent higher than the average of the European Union, at 91 percent.33 In Hong Kong, internet penetration was at 91% so lower than in the UK but on par with the EU average.34 Disparities across countries nevertheless varied but African institutions were the less well off since only 66% of the respondents claimed to have had an adequate infrastructure to communicate effectively, while 87% of those institutions without adequate coverage ceased operations and were completely closed by April 2020.35

  • 36 Ibid., p. 24.
  • 37 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman, “COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption on university (...)

14Moving teaching online meant a departure from the in-person teaching lecture, where instructors are at the center of the teaching and learning process, sharing their knowledge and expertise while students passively take notes. Online teaching opened up space for innovation focused on more student-centered approaches.36Most studies especially in Hong Kong present online learning as relevant for higher education to get more familiar with technological skills and evolving market needs.37

Assessing UK students’ levels of satisfaction towards online teaching

  • 38 Fayyaz Qureshii, Sarwar Khawaja, Tayyaba Zia, “Mature Undergraduate Students’ Satisfaction with Onl (...)

15Customer satisfaction is a well-recognised concept in marketing and student satisfaction has to some extent derived from marketing when education has become a service which one pays for via tuition fees. Even if as previously seen wellbeing is much more than just satisfaction, it can still be understood as part of the process of meeting the expectations of recipients of higher education.38

  • 39 Ibid, p. 462.

16The findings of a survey on mature undergraduates’ satisfaction with online teaching in private higher education institutes in the South of England indicate that a majority of students under 50 preferred online teaching or at least a blended format and wanted to continue this way at the end of the pandemic.39 The most common challenges students faced were weak Internet connection, old devices (computer, laptop), low level of digital competency and a lack of technical support. Lastly, the abrupt transition to online teaching was a stressful experience for part of the student cohort.

  • 40 Paul McGivern, Jack Shepherd, “The impact of COVID-19 on UK university students: Understanding the (...)
  • 41 Ibid., pp. 220-221.
  • 42 Ibid., p. 222.
  • 43 Ibid., p. 221.
  • 44 Ibid., p. 222.

17The United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported useful statistics in relation to student experiences during lockdown, with 33% of students reporting dissatisfaction regarding their academic experience since the start of the Autumn term 2020.40 In the UK, 62 out of 82 student participants chosen from a Northeastern university reported that the changes regarding the delivery of materials had impacted negatively on their overall quality of life.41 Students further reported that online learning was insufficient by comparison to face-to-face teaching due to the distance between the lecturer and students, and the lack of awareness of some students’ conditions. Many students reported feelings of frustration regarding the disparity in institutions’ adoption of online learning, such that it was “unfair to say [that] we are getting the same quality of education we would be if we were on-campus.”42 For the purpose of this aforementioned survey, “Education” was divided into five categories: “inability to study effectively, lack of value for money, impact on grades, reduction in teaching quality and lack of support.”43 Students reported ‘dips’ in standards and that online learning was insufficient by comparison to face-to-face learning due to the ‘disconnect’ between lecturers and their audience.44

  • 45 Holly Knight, Sophie Carlisle, Morna O’Connor, Lydia Briggs, Fothergill Lauren, Al-Oraibi Amani, Yi (...)
  • 46 Ibid., p. 11.

18The analysis of the situation by students was based on a comparison to the pre-Covid period where interaction took place and proximity was regarded as a form of social awareness. On the contrary, social distancing was perceived as a way of being put aside by the institution and disregarding student needs. A qualitative survey with 52 student participants and 26 staff members at Nottingham university45 reported the negative impacts of the pandemic and national lockdowns on students’ ability to regulate their attention and motivation levels and to develop studying networks.46 This shows how online quality was regarded by students as of lesser value and thus impacted their wellbeing by causing a certain amount of stress and uncertainty as to the future.

Assessing Hong Kong students’ levels of satisfaction towards online teaching

  • 47 Weiyan Xiong, Ka Ho Mok and Jin Jiang, “Hong Kong University Students’ Online Learning Experiences (...)
  • 48 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin and Aedy Rahman, “COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption on univers (...)

19This new teaching model was assessed by students in different studies such as “Hong Kong University Students’ Online Learning Experiences under the COVID-19 Pandemic 2020”47 and the “COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption on university teaching and learning and competence cultivation: Student evaluation of online learning experiences in Hong Kong” in The International Journal of Chinese Education.48

  • 49 Ibid., p. 7.
  • 50 Ibid., p. 9.

20A large scale study which analysed responses from 1,227 university students in Hong Kong from eight public universities and other higher education institutions49, found that most of the respondents felt dissatisfied with their online learning experiences and effectiveness. Mok’s study confirms that respondents’ household income level and information technology literacy affected their online learning effectiveness. Generally, only 26.89% of respondents felt satisfied with their online learning experiences during the pandemic. Moreover, less than half of the respondents (43.60%) felt neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and one-third (29.50%) felt dissatisfied, which is rather similar to the UK (refer to ONS 2021 figure of 33%). The overall low satisfaction rate concerning the effectiveness of emergency online learning may be a disappointing sign for institutions which rapidly endorsed new guidelines to match expectations.50

  • 51 Ibid., p. 12.
  • 52 Ibid.
  • 53 Weiyan Xiong, Ka Ho Mok and Jin Jiang, op. cit., p. 6.
  • 54 Ibid., p. 6.
  • 55 Ibid., p. 5.
  • 56 Ibid., p. 7.
  • 57 Ibid.

21The main challenges to online learning were the lack of self-discipline, poor learning atmosphere, and eye fatigue caused by staring at the screen for a long time. The majority of the respondents (59.98%) had a higher prevalence of reporting the lack of self-discipline as a significant challenge for online learning. Of the respondents, 56% reported a poor learning atmosphere as one of the challenges they faced during online learning.51 Notably, 44.58% of the respondents had a higher prevalence of reporting poor quality of learning as one of the challenges in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.52 These findings corroborate with Xiong et al.’s 2020 survey which reveals that distraction from the surroundings and unstable internet connection were perceived as the main hurdles to overcome by 54% and 50% respectively.53 Students who worried of the leakage of personal information in the online learning platform54 faced a further stress. Those with better IT literacy skills felt more satisfied with the effectiveness of online classes as well as those from higher income families.55 In addition to the stability of the Internet connection (60%), in-class interactions (50%) and after- class communication with instructors (46%), were perceived as crucial to complement the online experience.56 Higher autonomy in the learning process was perceived as an advantage and university support as key in achieving this outcome.57

22In Hong Kong, the physical environment and limits, self-discipline and morale were more frequently reported (physical constraints) whereas in the UK, student surveys criticised more openly the content and format approach, as well as personal living conditions and institutional limits. Regardless of location, both seemed concerned about a difficult learning environment and the necessity to remain physically connected to remain concentrated over long periods and to maintain enthusiasm for and interest in a subject.

Post-Covid phase: new model of transmission after a return to normality

23Following the pandemic, most teaching gradually returned to face-to-face. Although one might be tempted to say that all has returned to normal, the online dimension seems to have remained and enhances the process making it more efficient for instance for occasional tutorials, routine meetings with colleagues by reducing commute time, thereby improving time management while increasing efficiency and the number of those attending.

24The pandemic may have helped discover aspects that work well online and which could be kept. For instance, according to Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University, Kyungmee Lee,

  • 58 Kyungmee Lee, “Universities after COVID: as lecture theatres reopen, some pandemic teaching methods (...)

courses can be designed in a blended learning format that provides students with online learning activities for before and after lectures. Certain elements of the module, such as tutorials, could be moved online to increase the flexibility of student learning.58

25This viewpoint seems to suggest adaptations to reach out and cater to a larger audience, by diversifying forms of interaction without completely returning to the pre-pandemic format.

  • 59 UNESCO, Resuming or Reforming?, op. cit., p. 53.
  • 60 Richard Watermayer, Cathryn Knight, Tom Crick and Mar Borras, “‘Living at work’: COVID‑19, remote‑w (...)

26The 2022 UNESCO report concludes that the swift return to in-person teaching and learning “suggest that the changes of 2020 and 2021 will not lead to a fundamental transformation in the core understanding of higher education as a face-to-face endeavour.”59 Online teaching appears more as a complementary and boosting approach to education.  The health crisis opened up to other models of knowledge transmission, enabling the traditional model to evolve.60 According to University of Bristol Professor of Education, Richard P. Watermeyer, the model seems to have been interrupted but not broken by the pandemic.

Assessment of levels of wellbeing for UK students during the pandemic

  • 61 Paul McGivern and Jack Shepherd, op. cit., p. 219.
  • 62 Ibid., p. 222.

27The United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported useful statistics in relation to student experiences during lockdown, with 29% of students reporting dissatisfaction regarding their student experience. Moreover, 65% reported issues in relation to their accommodation, and a decrease in overall life satisfaction.61 They felt that general support with their studies had noticeably been reduced. Issues with communication and an inability to work on-campus meant that support was perceived to be less visible, with students reporting that they felt they were “…just expected to get on with their degree’ and that ‘support day-to-day was unsuitable.”62

  • 63 Ibid., p. 221.
  • 64 Ibid., p. 222.
  • 65 Holy Knight et al., op. cit., p. 11.

28The negative impact of COVID-19 on participants’ mental health was the most prevalent finding in the dataset with 43 participants out of 82 from a university in the North East of England reporting such issues. About half reported more generally that their mental health had deteriorated, which had an effect regarding their motivation to study and a general lack of energy.63 Prominent were reports of increased depression, anxiety, stress and worry, alongside with lower self-esteem.64 Participants in the North East survey also reported that the pandemic had exacerbated pre-existing medical conditions causing further psychical health difficulties on top of lower motivation levels.65

29These findings coincide with a 2020 survey conducted by the OECD among 90 youth organisations from 48 countries, which revealed that young people were more worried about their mental health than about their future employment prospects and income.66 A 2022 global student report also revealed that 76% considered wellbeing to be the most significant challenge post-pandemic.67 A total of 53 participants out of 82 from the North East survey reported that COVID-19 had impacted negatively on their overall quality of life (employment prospects, socialisation, relationships and living conditions).68

  • 69 Holy Knight et al., op. cit., p. 10.
  • 70 Ibid., p. 11.

30Inequality between campuses and halls of residence in terms of university support also greatly affected student wellbeing in the UK.69 Variations in aspects of self-isolation (such as meal delivery, care packages), emotional support, activities and teaching, all contributed to building a complex situation. A total of 50 participants out of 82 from the University of Nottingham reported that COVID-19 had impacted on either one or both aspects of their physical and mental health.70

  • 71 Ibid.

31However, the emotional impact of self-isolation was diverse, with some students coping relatively better. Qualitative work also suggests that the pandemic fostered opportunities for appreciation and gratitude by considering one’s personal experience in comparison to others who were adversely affected (i.e., relative fortune) and for the extra time spent with family and discovering new activities.71

32Dominique Thompson, an NHS doctor and author of several student wellbeing books, said most studies on students’ emotional wellbeing post pandemic showed higher anxiety and increased loneliness. She said anxiety and suicidal thoughts tended to reflect the feeling of one’s life and future being out of control, which was aggravated by the pandemic, recession and cost of living crisis. The student nightline has also been getting more calls since the end of the pandemic.

Anxiety continues to be driven by uncertainty about the world they live in, whether that is future opportunities, eco-anxiety or political concerns, alongside day-to-day worries about cost of living, academic pressure and making friends. We cannot underestimate how important all these issues are for young adults, and how powerless they feel when faced with such huge challenges.72

  • 73 Holly Knight et al., op. cit., p. 12.

33This does not corroborate with findings from another study in The International Journal of Public Health73 which claims that the levels of anxiety and depression have returned to pre-pandemic levels for the general population but both agree about the impact of one’s personal environment on mental health and that it is greater for vulnerable sectors of the population.

Wellbeing in Hong Kong

  • 74 Ka Ho Mok et al., op. cit., (2021), p. 15.
  • 75 Ibid., p. 12.
  • 76 Ibid., p. 15.

34Similar research related to the pandemic and online learning in Hong Kong may have shown that student wellbeing was adversely affected by growing anxiety and stress.74 Physical symptoms compared to mental health can be mentioned in an acceptable manner in Asia and resulted from lengthy exposure to online learning which caused many of the respondents to face eye fatigue problems.75 Indeed, 54.77% of the respondents had a higher prevalence of reporting eye fatigue due to staring at the screen for a long time as one of the top 3 challenges. This finding highlights the significance of students’ physical and psychological wellbeing during online learning.76 Other studies reported different kinds of difficulties experienced by students simply because of the lack of face-to-face interactions. The COVID-19 pandemic did create further psychological stress and anxiety for students (not only the international ones) who were locked down at homes or hostels without the ‘normal interactions’ with their peers and instructors.

  • 77 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 18.
  • 78 Ibid.
  • 79 Ibid., p. 19.

35Many of the complaints were similar in Hong Kong and the UK, with Hong Kong students pointing to mostly physical symptoms (blaming oneself more than institutions) and less towards individual unequal situations while mental health was also less stressed upon than in the UK. Indeed, open discussions about mental health tend to be less common among Asian students, especially those from lower-income backgrounds.77 In addition, cultural norms against bringing mental health issues to public attention may help explain the lower rates reported in countries like China, Bangladesh and Pakistan.78 For example, in Guangdong, which is close to Hong Kong, 0.7 % of severe anxiety (lowest rate of report) and 1.01% of severe depression were reported in 2020 among students participating in a global survey on anxiety, depression and stress levels. For Bangladesh and Pakistan, the other two countries with lower rates reported, figures were respectively higher at 18.1% and 10.7% and 22.7% and 15.9%,79 which leaves the Chinese city in the lowest position in the UNESCO survey.

Programmes to improve wellbeing in the UK

  • 80 Ha Ko Mok et al., op. cit., (2021), p. 16.

36To address the students’ wellbeing, universities should help them obtain accurate information on healthcare and social support systems, by sharing it more widely at different levels of an institution and improving psychological support for students80 such as welcome desks to direct them. Helping students to identify the right bodies and obtaining support was perceived as crucial by higher education institutes.

  • 81 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 27.

37Some universities hired additional psychologists to provide counselling in individual meetings with students, while others organized peer support networks. According to the UNESCO survey, the University of Derby (UK) created voluntary 15-minute morning meetings in which faculty members checked in with each other and shared their concerns to deal with the impact of social isolation. After a two-month period, participating staff members reported enhanced wellbeing as well as better team cohesion and suggested expanding the activity with student groups.81 Assisting staff in their role as supporters of students is an essential step to the the maintenance of cohesion of the system as a whole.

38Following Covid, a government package announced by Science Minister Amanda Solloway brought forward £100 million of funding for university research and £2.6 billion of tuition fee payments to limit cash flow problems.82 10,000 additional student places were provided, with 5,000 places reserved for key sectors like nursing, midwifery and health courses in order to support the public service.83 The R&D Roadmap 1 July 202084 brought £300 million to upgrade scientific infrastructure across the UK through the government’s World Class Labs funding scheme. UKRI85 allocated £88 million in the financial year 2020-2021 to enable research institutes and universities to keep on improving research facilities, thereby ensuring researchers have access to the latest laboratory facilities, equipment and digital resources. It also allowed international PhD students to remain in the country for a maximum of 3 years upon graduation, and for highly skilled EU citizens such as scientists and researchers to come to the UK regardless of having secured a job offer beforehand. The government further committed to increasing R&D investment to £22 billion per year by 2024 to 2025.

  • 86 This task force of four universities (Southampton, Exeter, Arden, Sussex) leaders in the UK promote (...)

39Digital programmes are defended by Universities UK to help upskill staff and students. “A Digital Universities Week UK” was held in London in March 2021 for the first time. Digital Universities UK attempted to connect higher education, industry and policy leaders to pave the way for a combined approach to academic innovation and technology.86 Digital transformation is a long-term project that requires time and financial commitments from universities, using pilot programmes to show the benefits of digitalization and encouraging staff to get involved.

  • 87 Universities UK, “Lessons from the pandemic : making the most of technologies in teaching”, 15p., ( (...)

40Universities UK also argued that spaces freed up by online learning could be redesigned to develop open study and meeting areas, thereby enhancing the daily physical and mental wellbeing of students.87

  • 88 Andy Trotman, “Universities : we can’t close the UK’s digital skills gap on our own”, (17 November (...)

41The need to seek out funding to promote programmes such as wellbeing could lead to new partnerships between education and industry. For instance, a Microsoft study from 2020 found that 80% of leaders believed investment in digital skills would be important to the UK’s economic recovery, while 78% perceived digitalization as essential to remain competitive. However, more than two-thirds (69%) of UK business leaders believed that their organisation faced a digital skills gap, endangering Britain’s leadership.88

42Chris Rothwell, Director of Education at Microsoft UK, concluded:

  • 89 Ibid., paragraph 18.

The combined expertise of industry and academia has the power to unlock a new kind of education experience that combines learning with employability skills and helps academic institutions blend the academic and industry skills required keeping in pace with workplace.89

  • 90 D. Clark, Digital learning in the UK - Statistics & Facts, (20 December 2023), https ://www.statist (...)

43Although Microsoft obviously has an invested interest in promoting online learning, statistics in the UK show that between 2007 and 2019, the percentage of people who said that they had taken an online course had increased from four percent, to 17 percent while the share of people using online learning material was at 21 percent. The 16 to 34 year olds were the most likely age groups to have used an online course.90

Improving wellbeing in Hong Kong

  • 91 Legislative Council Panel on Education, Policy Address Education Bureau’s Policy Initiatives, The C (...)

44Policies to improve digital transition through the extensive funding of online teaching have been undertaken by the Bureau of Education in Hong Kong for some time. For instance, the Bureau of Education91 has supported various education institutions through different funding and resources in implementing online learning.

  • 92 Convertisseur de devises XE, https://www.xe.com/fr/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=15000000&From= (...)
  • 93 Funding for UGC-funded universities is composed of recurrent grants and capital grants. The former (...)
  • 94 Helena Okolicsanyl, “Hong Kong Universities Receive Grant Funding to Support Student Wellbeing”, (2 (...)
  • 95 Hong Kong Legislative Council, “Measures to promote mental health during the Covid-19”. ISE 16/20-2 (...)

45A fifteen million dollars (HK) (1,761,713 euros)92 grant was handed out by the Hong Kong government to eight universities to support student wellbeing in response to the new challenges. This includes funding for psychological counselling, mental wellbeing, career planning and development, and student health support. Eight universities were invited to submit proposals and each was awarded funding to support 75 initiatives for both the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years (through recurrent grants), which reflects the will of the local government to split available funding evenly among institutions. Once allocations are approved, universities have a high degree of freedom in deciding on how the resources are used. The grant funding could be used to expand existing student services or launch new programs that for instance provide psychological counselling via the internet, organize a series of seminars and activities to promote mental health, host virtual career fairs and development workshops, and develop mobile apps to encourage walks around campuses. In a press release announcing the grant, the University Grant Funded93 said that, “these initiatives [would] enable the universities to provide services tailored to the present circumstances, thereby supporting their students to tide over difficult times.”94 The government also contacted NGOs to provide mental health programmes for free. In July 2020, it supported a mental health education programme called “Shall We Talk” in order to eliminate stigmatisation together with a website to provide relevant information to the public.95

  • 96 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 54.
  • 97 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman, op. cit., p. 14.
  • 98 Times Higher Education, « Hong Kong looks to private sector for aid », (14 February 2023), https://(...)

46According to UNESCO report, with 66% of students in favour of a blend of in-person and online teaching and 45% of students keen to combine an in-person experience with weekly online activities, it comes as little surprise that some digitalization practices have remained in place (hybrid working modes for staff/ offering more online and distance courses to students).96 To develop this, stable resources need to be allocated by the Hong Kong government despite the limited resources available for a small territory (universities are only partly public funded and supported by the University Grant Committee).97 The share of funds from the private sector is gradually being increased to meet those growing needs.98 This however could generate inequality between subjects whilst influencing developments of skills more immediately connected to national employment targets.

47One can notice that Hong Kong has more of a centralized approach due to the nature of its government and regional size, whereas pilot programmes were put in place by universities in the UK.

Conclusion

48The pandemic has permanently changed educational expectations after affecting student experience with the sudden transfer of face-to-face classes to online learning regardless of instructors’ and students’ readiness.

  • 99 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman, op. cit., p. 14.
  • 100 Ibid.

49According to Mok, previous research has shown that “adopting online learning alone would fail to productively create a community of inquiry because such a community consists of social presence, cognitive and teaching presence”99. He insists that developing students’ abilities to relate, communicate with their peers, and form balanced relationships, remain essential parts of student learning.100

  • 101 Ibid., p. 16.
  • 102 Ibid.

50Most sources used for this research conclude on the limits of emergency online learning with student surveys pointing out the weaknesses. The latter prone online and onsite teaching, together with other forms of activities to enrich students’ experience and enhance their mental wellbeing101. Universities are thereby being encouraged to combine forms of online and face-to-face teaching.102

  • 103 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 51.
  • 104 Paul McGivern, Jack Shepherd, op cit., p. 225.

51It is important that policies also consider the emotional climate in the future and pay attention to specific needs (age, level of education).103 A more comprehensive and collective response to students’ needs may serve to improve their circumstances and reduce negative experiences, particularly given the diversity in the cohort (special needs, financial dependents and care responsibilities).104 A generation of teenagers currently at university suffered under Covid but, at the same time, they appear to be less shy about asking for help and more outspoken about their needs, even if they have a tendency to criticize the offer and its evolution.

  • 105 Holly Knight et al., op. cit., p. 14.

52Greater support should also be provided for staff during transitional periods, with ongoing monitoring of workforce stress levels105 and of the effectiveness of mental health programs. Local universities and healthcare organisations have been encouraged to establish strategies to support students’ mental health and wellbeing in the event of public health emergencies and disasters. It seems that Hong Kong has a good understanding of emergency situations due to its past experience of SARS and recurrent protests in the last two decades.

  • 106 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman, op. cit., p. 8.

53Universities are expected to be even more responsive in the case of any future emergency because the ability to make a rapid shift to online teaching and learning now has a foundation on which to build. All sources conclude that virtual modalities of teaching and learning will remain an important feature of post-pandemic higher education as the role of ICT in learning is still recent and currently unlikely to ever fully replace in-person provision because learners fail to remain engaged when studying only through digital channels.106 Indeed, face-to-face instruction offers immediate feedback and motivates the learner and it also enhances communication and interpersonal skills.

  • 107 Yong Zhao, Jeffrey Watterston; “The changes we need : Education post COVID‑19” Journal of Education (...)

54In The Journal of Educational Change, Zhao and Waterson identify three potential areas to develop for those in the field of education : “evolutionary and personalised curriculum, student-centred approaches, synchronous and asynchronous forms of learning.”107 This view was comforted by The UN Policy Brief on Education during Covid 19 and Beyond.

  • 108 The UN Sustainable Development Group (August 2020). Policy Brief: Education during Covid 19 and bey (...)

We have a generational opportunity to reimagine education. And we need to draw on flexible delivery methods, digital technologies and modernized curricula while ensuring sustained support for teachers and communities. As the world faces unsustainable levels of inequality, we need education – the great equalizer – more than ever.108  

Iside Costantini is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English studies at the Université of Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, where she teaches British contemporary civilization. She is also a member of the Centre for Research on the English-Speaking World (CREW) and the GIS Asia research network. Her research focuses on Sino-British exchanges in various fields from the 19th Century till today.

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Notes

1 Luis Martinez, “Evolution of Hong Kong Education from Colonial Times through World War II”, (26 February 2013), https://sites.miis.edu/hongkonged/2013/02/26/evolution-of-hong-kong-education-from-colonial-times-through-world-war-ii/

2 OECD, Education at a Glance : OECD indicators, (OECD Publishing, Paris, 2022), https://doi.org/10.1787/3197152b-en, p. 23.

3 Self-Determination Theory (SDT) explains that more evolved psychological needs must be satisfied if individuals are to develop to their fullest potential. SDT identifies three universal needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy involves the need to experience one’s behaviour as “freely chosen”; competence involves the need “to feel capable and effective in one’s actions”; relatedness involves “the need for belonging, intimacy, and connectedness to others” (p. 508) Cf. A. Timothy Church, Marcia S. Katigbak, Kenneth Locke, Hengsheng Zhang, “Need Satisfaction and Well-Being: Testing Self-Determination Theory in Eight Cultures”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 44(4) (May 2013), pp. 507–534. https//doi: 10.1177/0022022112466590

4 Ibid.

5 Masood A. Badri, Mugheer Alkhaili, Hamad Aldhaheri, Guang Yang, Muna Albahar, Asma Alrashdi, “Exploring the Reciprocal Relationships between Happiness and Life Satisfaction of Working Adults-Evidence from Abu Dhabi”, Int. J Environ Res Public Health 19(6), 3575, (17 March 2022), p. 2., https//doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063575.

6 Ibid., p. 3.

7 Cambridge dictionary online, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/well-being, accessed March 2024.

8 Wellbeing Concepts, https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/hrqol/wellbeing.htm

9 The Better Health Channel is part of the Digital Strategy and Services Unit in the Victorian Government's Department of Health, Victoria, Australia.

10 About wellbeing, https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/wellbeing, accessed March 2024.

11 Health-related quality of life (Wellbeing concepts), https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/hrqol/wellbeing.htm

12 Iside Costantini, “Health, Education and Wellbeing in Hong Kong: British Legacy and New Challenges since the Handover to China”, in Louise Dalingwater, Iside Costantini, Nathalie Champroux (eds), Le bien-être : discours politique et politiques publiques dans le monde anglophone. Interventions économiques 62, (2019), https://doi.org/10.4000/interventionseconomiques.6472.

13 Social Indicators of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2018, https://www.socialindicators.org.hk/en

14 Ibid.

15 In this initiative, each region is measured on eleven topics relevant to wellbeing – income, jobs, housing, health, access to services, environment, education, safety, civic engagement and governance, community, and life satisfaction. No data for Hong Kong appears on the map. https://www.oecdregionalwellbeing.org/FR1.html, accessed May 2023.

16 UNESCO, UNESCO strategy on education for health and well-being, Health and Resource Strategy Centre homepage, (31p.), (2022), https://healtheducationresources.unesco.org/library/documents/unesco-strategy-education-health-and-well-being.

17 UNESCO, Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all., Korea Unesco summit, (85 p.), (2016), Preamble 9, p. 8. https ://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245656.

18 UNESCO, Education 2030, op. cit., p. 9; UNESCO, “Education for health and wellbeing”, (2023), https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-health-and-well-being, accessed May 2023.

19 UNESCO, Education 2030, op. cit., Preamble 5, p. 6.

20 The UN Sustainable Development Group, Policy Brief : Education during Covid 19 and beyond, (August 2022), https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief-education-during-covid-19-and-beyond, p. 3.

21 UNESCO, “What you need to know about education for health and wellbeing”, (2023), https://www.unesco.org/fr/health-education/need-know

22 OECD Better Life Index. “According to OECD website, while money does not necessarily increase levels of happiness, it is an important means to achieving higher living standards”, (2019), https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/france/

23 Paula Vagos, Lénia Carvalhais, “Online Versus Classroom Teaching: Impact on Teacher and Student Relationship Quality and Quality of Life”, Frontiers in Psychology 13, (February 2022), DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.828774

24 UNESCO, Resuming or Reforming? Tracking the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education after two years of disruption, Education 2030, 68 p., (2022), p. 9. https: //unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381749

25 Ibid.

26 Rynke Douwes, Janneke Metselaar, Gerdina H.M. Pijnenborg, Nynke Boonstra, “Wellbeing of students in higher education: The importance of a student perspective”, Cogent Education (10)1, (2023), https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2190697

27 Office for Students, “Meeting the mental health needs of students”, Insight Brief (October 2023), https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/meeting-the-mental-health-needs-of-students/

28 Joe Lewis, Paul Bolton, “Student mental health in England: Statistics, policy and guidance”, Research Briefing, House of Commons Library, UK Parliament (30 May 2023), https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8593/

29 Ibid.

30 William Yat Wai Lo and Danling Li, “Reimagining the notion of Hong Kong as an education hub: National imperative for higher education policy”, International Journal of Educational Development 103, 102938 (November 2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2023.102938

31 The Government raised the cap on tuition fees for new student to £9,000 in 2012/13 and cut most ongoing direct public funding for teaching in England. In 2018/19, fee income from non-EU students in the UK was £5.8 billion or 14.4% of the total income of all UK universities.

32 UNESCO, Resuming or Reforming?, op. cit., p.12.

33 Statistica Research Department, Share of households with internet access in the UK and EU 2009-2020, (10 May 2021), https://www.statista.com/statistics/275043/percentage-of-households-with-internet-access-in-the-uk-and-eu/#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20the%20overall%20share%20of%20households%20in,of%2017%20percent%20over%20the%20last%2010%20years

34 Simon Kemp, Digital 2020: Hong Kong — Data Reportal – Global Digital Insights, (13 February 2020), https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-hong-kong

35 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 12.

36 Ibid., p. 24.

37 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman, “COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption on university teaching and learning and competence cultivation: Student evaluation of online learning experiences”, Hong Kong International Journal of Chinese Education, 10(1), pp. 1–20 (January-April 2021), https://doi.org/10.1177/22125868211007011 p. 6.

38 Fayyaz Qureshii, Sarwar Khawaja, Tayyaba Zia, “Mature Undergraduate Students’ Satisfaction with Online Teaching during the Covid-19”, European Journal of Education Studies 7(12), (2020), p. 460. http://dx.di.org/10.46827/ejes.v7i12.3440

39 Ibid, p. 462.

40 Paul McGivern, Jack Shepherd, “The impact of COVID-19 on UK university students: Understanding the interconnection of issues experienced during lockdown”, in Power and Education, 14(3), pp. 218–227 (2022), p. 219, https://doi.org/10.1177/17577438221104227

41 Ibid., pp. 220-221.

42 Ibid., p. 222.

43 Ibid., p. 221.

44 Ibid., p. 222.

45 Holly Knight, Sophie Carlisle, Morna O’Connor, Lydia Briggs, Fothergill Lauren, Al-Oraibi Amani, Yildirim Mehmet, Morling Joanne R., Corner Jessica, Ball Jonathan, Denning Chris, Vedhara Kavita, Blake Holly, “Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education : A Qualitative Study”, International Journal Environmental Research in Public Health 18 (20), 10675, (October 2021), https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010675. This is one of the first studies to explore the impact of self-isolation on students and staff in British higher education (p. 13).

46 Ibid., p. 11.

47 Weiyan Xiong, Ka Ho Mok and Jin Jiang, “Hong Kong University Students’ Online Learning Experiences under the COVID-19 Pandemic”, pp. 1-10 (August 2020), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343547114_Hong_Kong_University_Students'_Online_Learning_Experiences_under_the_COVID-19_Pandemic

48 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin and Aedy Rahman, “COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption on university teaching and learning and competence cultivation: Student evaluation of online learning experiences in Hong Kong”. International Journal of Chinese Education, 10(1), pp. 1-20 (January-April 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/22125868211007011

49 Ibid., p. 7.

50 Ibid., p. 9.

51 Ibid., p. 12.

52 Ibid.

53 Weiyan Xiong, Ka Ho Mok and Jin Jiang, op. cit., p. 6.

54 Ibid., p. 6.

55 Ibid., p. 5.

56 Ibid., p. 7.

57 Ibid.

58 Kyungmee Lee, “Universities after COVID: as lecture theatres reopen, some pandemic teaching methods should live on” , The Conversation, (7 March 2022), paragraph 12, https://theconversation.com/universities-after-covid-as-lecture-theatres-reopen-some-pandemic-teaching-methods-should-live-on-174652, accessed May 2023

59 UNESCO, Resuming or Reforming?, op. cit., p. 53.

60 Richard Watermayer, Cathryn Knight, Tom Crick and Mar Borras, “‘Living at work’: COVID‑19, remote‑working and the spatio‑relational reorganisation of professional services in UK universities”, Higher Education, (Dordr), 85(6):1317-1336, (July 2022), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00892-y, p. 17.

61 Paul McGivern and Jack Shepherd, op. cit., p. 219.

62 Ibid., p. 222.

63 Ibid., p. 221.

64 Ibid., p. 222.

65 Holy Knight et al., op. cit., p. 11.

66 OECD, OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19),Youth and COVID-19: Response, recovery and resilience, (June 2020), https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2020/06/youth-and-covid-19-response-recovery-and-resilience_6f129a50.html

67 Marguerite Dennis, “Post-pandemic: Some ‘forever’ changes to higher education”, University World News (The Global Window on Higher Education), (September 2022), https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20220902154032439
The survey was conducted by Salesforce, the Chronicle of Higher Education and the research firm Ipsos, of 2,000 students and staff in the United States, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Australia.

68 Paul McGivern, Jack Shepherd, op. cit., p. 222.

69 Holy Knight et al., op. cit., p. 10.

70 Ibid., p. 11.

71 Ibid.

72 Rachel Hall, “Pandemic still affecting UK students’ mental health, says helpline”, The Guardian, (14 November 2022), paragraph 15, http://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/nov/14/pandemic-still-affecting-uk-students-mental-health-says-helpline-covid

73 Holly Knight et al., op. cit., p. 12.

74 Ka Ho Mok et al., op. cit., (2021), p. 15.

75 Ibid., p. 12.

76 Ibid., p. 15.

77 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 18.

78 Ibid.

79 Ibid., p. 19.

80 Ha Ko Mok et al., op. cit., (2021), p. 16.

81 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 27.

82 Paul Bolton, Susan Hubble, “Coronavirus: Financial impact on higher education”, Research Briefing. House of Commons Library, (15 January 2021), https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8954/

83 Donelan Michelle (The Rt Hon, MP), Solloway Amanda (MP), and Williamson Gavin (The Rt Hon Sir, CBE MP), “Government support package for universities and students”, Press release. Department for EducationDepartment for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, (4 May 2020), https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-support-package-for-universities-and-students, accessed 3 April 2024.

84 Policy paper, UK Research and Development Roadmap, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, (1 July 2020, updated 21 January 2021), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-research-and-development-roadmap

85 Launched in April 2018, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

86 This task force of four universities (Southampton, Exeter, Arden, Sussex) leaders in the UK promotes digital transformation with people at the front and gives advice on how to implement digital transformation on campuses.

87 Universities UK, “Lessons from the pandemic : making the most of technologies in teaching”, 15p., (March-April 2021, last updated 2 April 2024) https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/lessons-pandemic-making-most

88 Andy Trotman, “Universities : we can’t close the UK’s digital skills gap on our own”, (17 November 2021), https://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/2021/11/17/universities-we-cant-solve-the-uks-digital-skills-gap-on-our-own/, accessed 4 April 2024.

89 Ibid., paragraph 18.

90 D. Clark, Digital learning in the UK - Statistics & Facts, (20 December 2023), https ://www.statista.com/topics/8518/digital-learning-in-the-uk/#topicOverview

91 Legislative Council Panel on Education, Policy Address Education Bureau’s Policy Initiatives, The Chief Executive delivered the 2021 Policy Address on 6 October 2021, (19 p.), (2021), 20211018_PA%20panel%20paper%20

92 Convertisseur de devises XE, https://www.xe.com/fr/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=15000000&From=HKD&To=EUR, accessed 4 April 2024.

93 Funding for UGC-funded universities is composed of recurrent grants and capital grants. The former are to support universities’ academic work and related administrative activities. The latter are used to finance major works projects and minor campus improvement works. The government allocated $63.2 billion to the UGC-funded universities as recurrent grants in the 2022/23 to 2024/25 triennium.

94 Helena Okolicsanyl, “Hong Kong Universities Receive Grant Funding to Support Student Wellbeing”, (2020), https://www.symplicity.com/blog/hong-kong-universities-receive-grant-funding-to-support-student-wellbeing

95 Hong Kong Legislative Council, “Measures to promote mental health during the Covid-19”. ISE 16/20-21, (26 January 2021), https://www.legco.gov.hk/research-publications/english/essentials-2021ise16-measures-to-promote-mental-health-during-covid-19.htm

96 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 54.

97 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman, op. cit., p. 14.

98 Times Higher Education, « Hong Kong looks to private sector for aid », (14 February 2023), https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/hong-kong-looks-to-private-sector-for-aid/174707.article#:~:text=Investment%20in%20the%20sector%20has%20fallen%20by%2010,look%20to%20the%20private%20sector%20to%20supplement%20funding. Investments in the sector have fallen by 10% in the past five years as the government struggles to reduce a huge budget deficit.

99 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman, op. cit., p. 14.

100 Ibid.

101 Ibid., p. 16.

102 Ibid.

103 UNESCO, Resuming or reforming?, op. cit., p. 51.

104 Paul McGivern, Jack Shepherd, op cit., p. 225.

105 Holly Knight et al., op. cit., p. 14.

106 Ka Ho Mok, Weiyan Xiong, Hamzah Nor Bin Aedy Rahman, op. cit., p. 8.

107 Yong Zhao, Jeffrey Watterston; “The changes we need : Education post COVID‑19” Journal of Educational Change, 22 (3–12), (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-021-09417-3, abstract.

108 The UN Sustainable Development Group (August 2020). Policy Brief: Education during Covid 19 and beyond. https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief-education-during-covid-19-and-beyond, recommendation 4.

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Iside Costantini, « Long-term impact of the pandemic on higher education and student wellbeing in the UK and Hong Kong »Observatoire de la société britannique, 32 | -1, 11-34.

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Iside Costantini, « Long-term impact of the pandemic on higher education and student wellbeing in the UK and Hong Kong »Observatoire de la société britannique [En ligne], 32 | 2024, mis en ligne le 31 décembre 2024, consulté le 17 mars 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/osb/6492 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/13byu

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Iside Costantini

Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, CREW

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