Teaching universities ‘less able’ to withstand Covid costs

High prices charged by software companies and publishers harmed disadvantaged students, conference hears

Universities with a focus on teaching struggled to provide software and wifi provision for students during lockdown, nor meet the “exorbitant” costs that publishers charged for e-books, an academic has claimed.

Nona McDuff, pro vice-chancellor for students and teaching at Solent University, told the British Council’s Going Global conference on 16 June that the “digital divide we experienced in lockdown” meant that students and teachers at some universities “were challenged by wifi, by access to high-tech machines, by having somewhere quiet to work, and the ability to study without family calls on their time”.