By Pearse McLaughlin

Cumbernauld resident Liam Docherty has opened up about his struggles with mental health during lockdown and how he was demotivated with online learning. He stayed in contact with friends and family regularly throughout lockdown during his studies of journalism at Strathclyde University. Lockdown was a challenge for the millennial generation.

One in 10 undergraduates who started at a Scottish university in September are set to quit. This information was gathered from higher education data experts Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Universities UK and IFF Research.The last reported hard data from 2018-19 reported a 6.7 per cent drop-out rate across the UK but universities up and down the country fear the impact of the global pandemic and its effects on students’ university experience will push this figure to 10 per cent.  That number is predicted to rise further for the coming academic year’s new intake, as the public health crisis has hampered universities’ ability to offer a rounded and engaging student experience to new learners.

This is not only “catastrophic” to the higher education economy and the regions those institutions support – each student drop-out costs a university up to £27,750, or as much as £300,000 per international student – but also has a long-term impact on the lives of those individuals.