Student life in 2021: The good, the bad and the box sets

People around the country have seen their lives turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Students have had to adapt quickly, with big changes to their academic and social life.

There have been plenty downsides, but most remain positive and committed to their careers, as we hear from two young people currently part-way through their courses.

Jess Palmer

Jess Palmer, 20, is a second-year Agriculture student at the Royal Agricultural University

Give us a sense of your uni experience in 2020

Once the outbreak had begun to get worrying, I packed my bags and went home on 18 March. From that moment on, university life was online.

See also: FW Awards: Ag student finalists 2020

Although the pandemic meant the first year of my degree was far from normal, it did give me opportunities for work.

Once I knew I wasn’t going back until my second year, I was able to take learning into my own hands and also buy some sheep and a set of pigs to rear.

My second year has been online, with the option – before the third lockdown – to go in for some face-to-face lectures.

The flexibility of online learning has meant I’ve also been able to work on a dairy farm rearing calves.

Tell us about what life’s like at present

Currently, lectures are all online, so now I know I’ll be at home for a while I have bought an in-pig sow and I will carry on online learning plus farming.

The worst part is the lack of human contact. Your life is on your laptop and you’re talking to pixels rather than people. I value human connection.

It is also hard sometimes to learn online with the farm and the outdoors tempting you away from your studies.

So, what’s happening in terms of coursework and exams?

Currently I have no exams, and everything rests solely on coursework, which is less pressure and easier to perfect. I can get topics for my coursework based on my own farming experiences. 

What are your long-term career plans?

Long-term, all I want to do is farm. The year I graduate I’ll visit other farms and look at their systems before I head back to the family arable farm in Somerset to start creating a mixed farming system.

How are you staying in touch with friends during lockdown?

During semester my best friend and I would video-call each other to study and keep each other motivated, like we used to do in the library.

Are there any silver linings to this whole Covid cloud?

This pandemic has shown how our supply chains are overcomplicated and broken. Milk was being poured down the drains while shelves were empty.

It has also shown how quickly consumers can change their loyalty. We can only hope people continue to support local producers once this nightmare is over.

Recommend a fantastic book or box set to help get us through lockdown

On TV, Our Yorkshire Farm and This Farming Life never fail to put a smile on my face.

In terms of books, George Orwell’s 1984, Tim Lang’s Feeding Britain: Our Food Problems and How to Fix Them and Stephen Fry’s The Book of General Ignorance.

Joe Bramall

Joe Bramall, 20, is a second-year Agri-Business student at Harper Adams University

Give us a sense of your uni experience in 2020

On 16 March, I was at Paddy’s ball at Harper – our last social event to date. Since then, it’s been Teams calls, Zooming and a lot of online learning.

Tell us about what life’s like at present

The spring term will be fully online. This is unlike last term where our smaller classes were still on campus.

I’m lucky enough to have a pretty good internet connection which is becoming increasingly important, as education and an ever-greater amount of farm services are going online.

Being at home in Cheshire has freed up time help with projects on the farm too. Dad and I have just finished moving our medicine records online.

So, what’s happening in terms of coursework and exams?

Our assignments are all going ahead as planned. I’m currently looking at my notice board with eight of them pinned up – I should really get a shift on!

Covid has obviously meant we can’t all gather in one hall to take our exams so we’ll have “timed open book assessments” which are a cross between coursework and exam.

They resemble more of a real-world scenario – so perhaps more useful for my career, compared with traditional exams.

What are your long-term career plans?

In my gap year before university, I joined CF Fertilisers which I really enjoyed.

A year out in industry is also part of my course and my placement starts in June with McDonald’s in their beef supply chain. My long-term plan is to work in industry before coming back to the home farm.

How are you staying in touch with friends during lockdown?

Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and the occasional socially distanced walk is about as much as I can do with friends at the moment – not how I imagined my second year.

Although I can’t wait to get back to the pub, going out walking has made me discover some incredible British countryside around where I live.

Are there any silver linings to this whole Covid cloud?

Seeing positives during the pandemic has been pretty tough, but it has been a catalyst for technology on-farm and some of the technology implemented will still be in place post-pandemic.

People are also beginning to think more about where their food comes from and I am passionate about educating people about this.

Recommend a fantastic book or box set to help get us through lockdown

Features like Group Watch on Disney+ have been great, as they allow groups of friends to all watch the same show virtually.

I’ve been a big fan of Marvel films and I’m looking forward to Jeremy Clarkson’s new show I Bought a Farm, despite him not knowing what an agronomist is!