Read: Digital poverty is a very real and current problem

By Professor Liz Barnes
Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive at Staffordshire University

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on our society and many aspects of how we live and work have changed since March 2020.

For the education sector, the pandemic led to a rapid transition to online teaching and learning. Staffordshire University, like many of our counterparts in the HE sector, was quick to transition and adapt under immense pressure, accelerating the move to an already increasingly digital world. 

 As our post-pandemic Britain will inevitably be more online, increased efforts must be made to ensure that society’s pursuit of a digital future does not widen social mobility gaps. 

In the race to ‘be more digital’ we must take all measures possible to ensure that those living in our deprived communities and with the most complex backgrounds are not left behind. 

Digital poverty is a very real and current problem, one which has been brought into sharp relief during this pandemic. 

In September, a survey from the Office for Students (OfS) found that during the first national lockdown 52% of university students said their learning was impacted by slow or unreliable internet connection and 18% were impacted by lack of access to a computer, laptop or tablet.

We know that students at Staffordshire University are disproportionally affected by digital poverty. About 47% of our student community come from disadvantaged backgrounds and more than 50% are mature learners. 

Many students don’t have access to study spaces at home, they might be single parents or carers and so the pressures they face are very high. They might also lack access to IT equipment. 

However, their learning should not suffer because of this. 

That is why Staffordshire is offering access to hundreds of laptops to ensure that disadvantaged students and their families do not get left behind in the latest national lockdown.

Our Digital Services team have made the offer of loan laptops available to all students, handing out hundreds of computers since the first lockdown. Following the recent school closures, laptop computers are also now being provided to the children of our students to support them in home schooling. 

Some parents have had no choice but to share their laptop across the family. Yet nobody – young or older – should find themselves without the means to access their learning. A parent’s commitment to their child’s education should not be at the cost of their own. 

Of course, digital poverty is not just a hardware issue – learners who have their own laptops might struggle in their studies if they do not have the correct software. 

This is why Staffordshire University has supplied more than 2,300 Adobe licences to students since July, giving them home access to software that has traditionally been accessed on campus. 

Students have also been given the opportunity to enhance their digital skills and employability through certified online training in Microsoft Office, Adobe, and AutoDesk software. 

This range of support aligns with Staffordshire University’s commitment to improve the regional economy and enhance quality of life in local communities. 

Staffordshire University is working with the Social Mobility Pledge, alongside a number of leading businesses and educational establishments, to speed up the levelling-up in post-pandemic Britain. 

This has led to the launch of the Purpose Coalition, which aims to promote and deliver the vital environmental, social and governance (ESG)-based change Britain needs. 

The Coalition is calling on businesses and universities to commit to levelling up Britain by partnering with local schools, offering apprenticeships and using open and fair recruitment practices. It also calls for purpose-driven leadership and decision-making, and a recognition that employees, consumers and investors now demand positive impact from the organisations with which they engage. 

As a University fully invested in social mobility, we aim to lead by example and will share the insights and ideas from our own ESG approach through a publicly available Opportunity Action Plan, which aims to increase access to higher education and increase career opportunities locally. 

Coronavirus has highlighted the scale of the digital divide, which is a symptom of wider socio-economic issues faced in areas of deprivation like North Staffordshire. 

The number of people in Stoke-on-Trent who progress onto university is already significantly lower than the national average and so it is doubly important that we do not let anyone slip through the net during the current crisis. 

As a university, we will continue to drive forward the digital agenda, boosting digital skills and access to education in the region. In the meantime, we hope that steps such as laptop loans, provision of software and digital training will go some way to helping families during this difficult time and beyond.

While Staffordshire University is invested in becoming UK’s foremost digital university, at the heart of our purpose is our commitment to social mobility.