It’s been a long, stressful and demotivating summer – that’s for sure. In almost all industries and almost all economies jobs have been lost, ways of life changed drastically and many things will never be the same again. I’m here at Bucks New University as an aviation student, studying to then venture off into a broken and fractured tourism market in 2022. But what’s the experience like both studying aviation and (crucially) studying it amid Covid-19?…
With mostly online lessons and remote working, it’s definitely a struggle. Working from home and listening to lectures from home has made it increasingly difficult to concentrate, engage and learn. The social interactions and group activities are limited, which makes me glad to not be a fresher this year! With Coronavirus on the rise again and universities all over the country being swarmed by positive cases and lockdowns, most of us here see it as a matter of time before all learning is virtual and we’re confined to our homes to conduct our degrees.
Whilst I hope this dreaded virus doesn’t take over all three years of my course, and whilst it’s been a strange and tough end to year 1 / start to year 2 – it’s not been all doom and gloom. We’ve all had to adapt to new scenarios, new situations and new ways of working. It isn’t just universities of course, many employers have switched to remote working for the time being and we’re all in the same boat. Collaborating online and trying our best to learn as we go.
I’m in my second year – the first year in which assignments will count towards my final grade. It’s also a year many students can have their final grades all but determined by if they don’t keep the momentum going and raise the level to level 6 standards. As such, I’m trying my best to expand my knowledge, increase my skills and prepare for a difficult year.
Over the summer I subscribed to Airliner World, Airports of the World and the International Airport Review magazine. It only came to £40 for a year’s subscription and I must say has helped me gain an insight into real-life examples and the core parts of the day-by-day aviation industry we need to know about to produce detailed and quality research assignments. I really recommend the magazines – and as the International Airport Review magazine is FREE – you may as well give it a try. (Though don’t get me wrong I’ll definitely be scanning through a lengthy textbook every now and then too!
The future of the air travel sector is in limbo for the time being. Whilst we all know that one day it’ll recover and bounce back – the difficulty is figuring out when it will do so, and how different it will look to it’s former, Covid-Free self.
As well as the Corona-negativity, I’m also very glad to say I’ve now got a lot more time on my hands to regularly update the blog with new content – particularly as I delve into new topics at Uni and want to explore them further. All the best, and stay safe!
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