What can universities learn from their current COVID-19 communications?

It has been 100 days since China first reported COVID-19 to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Who would have thought that this disease will bring global calamity. Every sector has been effected by this pandemic. I have spent time watching how different sectors are responding to the challenges COVID-19 has brought them. Understandably, there has been a lot of panicked communication, misinformation and delayed messaging. I'm especially interested in the response from educational institutions in the midst of this global crisis. This article is the first of a series where I will express my thoughts on current communications in the education sector. I'm starting with the response from universities. Thus far, I think tremendous effort has been made however, I do believe there are more effective methods that aren't being used. I'll explain below in more detail.

On Monday 23rd March 2020, many universities in the UK shut their campus doors and sent students home. Face-to-face teaching has been suspended until further notice and at the beginning students were seemingly, left to fend for themselves. UK Universities had no formal guidance from government. Whilst schools were instructed to close by the Prime Minister, universities were left to make their decisions independently. This led to different universities closing at different times which caused anxiety in the student community. Due to the lack of unity in the university response, students and arguably staff, were confused about what to do next. One lesson that universities must take from this pandemic is that there should be better communications amongst themselves to ensure that their messaging is coherent. When universities speak the same language, they get better outcomes. We only have to look to the success of the recent union strikes where 74 UK universities chose to deliver similar narratives to each other.

International students were significantly affected by the initial COVID-19 messaging from universities . Many students told me they were simply instructed to fly home, which proved a grave challenge as many airlines were already beginning to cancel flights. There seemed to be no support system or process put in place to ensure that these students got home safely. Many students had signed 52 week accommodation contracts and had not been told if they were entitled to refunds. At the heart of this were concerns regarding end of year exams, coursework deadlines and graduation ceremonies. Students were given very little information about what would happen to these hugely important tasks and events. Tensions would have been eased if students were given an indication of the direction universities were going in from the start. Of course, there would have been uncertainty amongst university leaders but they undoubtedly, would have made the very important decisions; letting the student and staff community know about these would have made planning much easier for them.

Incoming students were also left in the dark. Summer exams being cancelled meant that many offer holders did not and in many cases, still do not know what this means in regard to their university places. Many universities failed to connect with these students. A simple message that tells these prospective students plans to ensure that their place will still be attainable would have been greatly appreciated. I fear that the failure to act quickly will lead to some universities having significantly fewer students enrolled for the year 2020/21.

These observations have made me think about next steps for university communications. Moving forward I'll be sharing tips on how to communicate effectively to the staff and student community in the midst of a global pandemic.

I would love to know how your university is communicating their response to COVID-19. Please feel free to drop me a message on LinkedIn to let me know.