In-person lectures ‘intimidating’ for students – Ucas chief

Students may be shunning lectures because they feel “intimidated” by large numbers of people, the Ucas chief has suggested.

Jo Saxton said the English regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), was concerned by declining attendance for in-person classes and more needed to be done to “break down barriers”.

Lecture attendance has plummeted in recent years, with academics frequently complaining that only a handful of students turn up to their classes.

The issues were exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and the widespread switch to online learning that followed.

Saxton, who took over as chief executive of the admissions service in 2024, said it was “important to support students in adapting to what university learning is”.

Speaking as part of a panel discussing the findings of the fifth annual Unite Student Applicant Index, Saxton said: “I know that colleagues at the Office for Students (OfS) are worried about the reduction in attendance at things like lectures.”

Saxton continued: “Certainly based on the students that I talk to, one of the reasons they cite [for] not going to lectures is…‘I’ve got a job that’s at the same time’, and if lectures are available to catch up online, they know that they can do that. But also, it’s really intimidating to go into a large space with that many people who are strangers.”

She called for “anything to break down those barriers” as part of the event that considered the findings of Unite Students and the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi)’s annual report, which revealed nearly nine in 10 incoming UK-based students expect to work during term time.

Overall, applicants’ financial confidence appears lower among this year’s respondents, with just 22 per cent believing that they will have enough money to cover their costs at university, compared with 27 per cent in the 2025 findings.

In relation to the cost of living, Saxton said that the research showed “the concerns of students shifting”.

Saxton suggested Ucas’ scholarship and bursaries search tool, pulling together hundreds of support packages available to applicants looking for help with tuition and living costs, had proved popular since its introduction in December last year.

“We launched that just before Christmas,” she said. “It’s had a staggering 2.5 million searches since that time.”

The Ucas leader also said the service would “later this year” launch a student budget calculator, to “help [students] work out exactly what it’s going to cost them to live”.

Incoming England president of the National Union of Students (NUS), Favour Samuel, said many were having to balance “working more than 16 hours a week on top of a full-time degree”, although she said it was important to remember that “students still believe in higher education”.

“I think we need to start by being honest that asking students to survive on support that does not reflect what it actually costs to live is not a funding system,” Samuel, who served as president of the University of Nottingham students’ union prior to assuming her NUS role, added.

“It is a hope strategy, and hope is not policy. Students need financial support that is pegged to the real cost of their lives, not to institutional fee structures.”

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com