Present and future vision shaped by the epidemic

The impact of Covid-19 on the life situation and future prospects of the students of the University of Szeged

Abstract

The coronavirus epidemic which appeared in the spring of 2020 brought a series of previously unknown experiences, events and life situations to the world. Fear of the unknown, uncertainty, unpredictability and dramatic changes have had a strong impact on all strata and segments of society. In the spring of 2021, in the third wave of the epidemic, we conducted online research among a representative sample of Szeged students by faculty and level of education (n=1195). We attempted to explore how young people in higher education, who have a good chance of achieving higher social status, can cope with the new epidemic-generated challenges and the old ones originating from their youth status. We wanted to understand how the epidemic as a collective experience, a cohort experience in the Mannheim sense, shaped the everyday life, problem perception and future prospects of the students of the University of Szeged. Based on the results of the online data collection, we determined that the personal satisfaction of university students is the lowest in the basic dimensions of youth vulnerability, in terms of education, free time and financial situation. Online communication and the use of social media could not replace personal relationships, which resulted in an increase in the value of offline spending time together and face-to-face communication. The university students’ attention was primarily directed towards politics, global phenomena and economic problems, the coronavirus epidemic was considered less of a serious problem.