THE GUARDIAN
Frances, 19, from Newcastle, had been looking forward to starting a design degree at the university of Northumbria last autumn.
By the end of her first semester, however, she had major doubts about having made the right choice.
“There’s aspects of my degree I really enjoy, but overall it’s not what I expected,” she said. “I’ve been shocked by the casual attitude my peers have to attendance. A lot of people on my course only show up for submissions or presentations.”
Frances is one of scores of current UK students who shared with the Guardian how they feel about attending university lectures and tutorials, amid reports that students’ attendance has fallen off a cliff.
About half of the students who got in touch said they were regularly skipping classes, with many saying they were hardly attending at all.
A lot of students pointed to financial difficulties forcing them to prioritise paid work over studying, a lack of enthusiasm for the format of lectures, low motivation to get up and go in, and the perception that attending classes was unlikely to improve their grades.
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