The university experience that never was: First-time university students’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had an unfathomable impact on the world, leading to the deaths of millions of people, profound damage to health systems globally, and the disruption of society on a grand scale. Universities were not immune to this disruption, and university students commencing study in 2020 entered an environment characterised by uncertainty, online learning, and a significant lack of social interaction. This study explores how first-year students in New Zealand who commenced their studies in 2020 retrospectively made sense of their COVID-19 pandemic experiences. This thesis addresses a gap in the existing research regarding university students’ own interpretations of their experiences of studying during the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilising interpretive qualitative methods and exploring retrospective sensemaking through repeat semi-structured interviews and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this current study explores and illuminates the lived experience of five first-year New Zealand university students who commenced university in 2020. The thesis demonstrates how participants utilised memory and reframing in recounting their COVID-19 pandemic experiences. Participants’ stories highlight dynamic processes shaping their stories, such as temporally locating their emotional experiences in the past, simplifying what had happened, and attempts to seek closure. Reframing their stories, participants reposition themselves positively as adaptable and resilient, without naivety or complete closure. This thesis argues that the way participants chose to share their COVID-19 pandemic experiences enabled them to make sense of unprecedented circumstances and filter their experiences to preserve their sense of self. In addition, collective social narratives surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand provided resources for building their own sensemaking. However, the isolation participants experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have some persistent impacts on how they view themselves and their university experiences, including a tendency to blame themselves for issues that they had little control over. The thesis underscores the importance of foregrounding lived experience when considering future university responses to crises. This includes acknowledging the persistence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on some university students and what could be done to mitigate effects and support university students more effectively during and after future crises.