A global survey has found that University of Malta students were among the most successful at navigating through the reality of remote learning through the pandemic, rating their satisfaction with teaching staff highly during COVID-19.
The large-scale survey, entitled Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Life of Higher Education Students, was led by Dr Aleksander Aristovnik from the University of Ljublijana, and focused on the immediate economic and social effects of the pandemic.
Despite 58 per cent of higher education students in Europe reporting that COVID-19 had significantly increased their study workload, University of Malta students seem to have been among those least negatively impacted by the situation, with the University of Malta coming in at second place when close to 3,000 students worldwide were asked to rate their level of satisfaction with tutors throughout the pandemic.
The University of Malta tied at second place with Sri Lanka, both receiving 3.79 out of a 5-point scale. New Zealand received the highest score: a 3.84 rating. Meanwhile, the least satisfied students came from Pakistan, Mozambique, South Africa, Brazil, and Nigeria.
The University of Malta also scored highly when it came to students' satisfaction with the shift from class-based to online learning, ranking first. This placed students in Malta amongst the most satisfied in comparison with those in over 150 universities in 100 countries included in the study.
“Excellent news for our University – another show of how our teaching staff rose admirably to the occasion, and how much the students appreciated it”, said UM rector Prof. Alfred J. Vella.
