(SOCIAL) CLASS OF 2020/2021: DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF NUS STUDENTS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

This thesis explores the lived experiences of university students in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic and examines factors such as students’ positioning within their institution. While all levels of the education sector are undoubtedly affected, COVID-19 may pose a larger challenge for university students who make up a particularly vulnerable population due to their positioning between adulthood and studenthood. In this thesis, I argue that students’ access to economic and social capital have a mediating effect on the immediate impact that of the pandemic and that access to the latter have a further role in students’ navigation of education and restrictions. In adjusting to the change in pedagogy and university restrictions, students’ academic background also play an important role in this adjustment by 1) determining their level of exposure to university restrictions, and 2) the moulding of their educational habitus, both of which affects the way students choose to navigate the restrictions they were subjected to, and their perception of these restrictions and the change in pedagogy. In this navigation, students’ access to social capital often plays an important role in shaping this process. The intersection between aspects of students’ academic background and their access to economic and social capital shapes their lived experiences during the pandemic, with access to social capital often playing a subtle, but important, mediating role.