Finishing university during the covid-19 pandemic

By the middle of March, I was starting to get slightly anxious. Continental Europe was
closing down and enforcing strict lockdowns while the UK government remained reluctant
to introduce any restrictions. I remember one specific moment. I was on the phone with my
parents and they were urging me to come back home describing the horrors of the ongoing
full lockdown in Prague, whilst I was walking past a packed pub in central London. For a long
time, I hesitated whether I should flee the country not knowing if I could ever come back.
One of the main reasons why I wanted to stay in London was my unfinished laboratory
project as I did not have enough data to write up my masters thesis. UCL has announced
there will not be any extenuating circumstances for people who left the country even for
covid-19 reasons hence my priority was staying until I would get sufficient amount of data.
On one Thursday evening, UCL sent out and email informing us about the first covid-19
positive student and announced full closure of all university facilities including labs. Having
received that, I jumped on the first available plane and left for Prague.
In complete shock, I found myself in Prague in a two-week quarantine. Here, I had the
opportunity to think about my project and figure out a way to change my thesis in a way it
could be finished remotely. With the help from my incredible supervisor Dr Rodriguez-
Lopez, we found an alternative project which would include analysis of already existing
sequencing data which which would then be processed by me using a computer genomics
software. Therefore, I was forced into learning how to code.
In the end, my thesis was successful and the whole experience had taught me a lot. I
understood that both in life and in lab, things never go as planned. This experience made
me more agile and taught me to respond well to sudden changes in projects. Lastly, I learnt
to appreciate the strength of team work. During lockdown, our research group kept in
“close” online contact, the online space became a very collaborative supportive
environment. Everyone helped each other professionally, but also emotionally. I feel
extremely grateful for all my lab co-workers and will always look fondly on the sense of
belonging they gave me.
Having experienced a pandemic, another shock came. The UK officials announced that post-
Brexit in 2021 European students will loose their home status and will become international
students. This could seem like a small change, however, this statement would then
transform UK universities as we know them now. Loss of home status for EU students
means two things. First is the triple increase of fees from 9k a year to 27k and secondly the
inability to take out a student loan from the UK government which will be from now on
granted to English students only. This decision came as a shock and it will prevent a majority
of EU students to study in the UK as it will be financially devastating and only accessible to
privileged people. Furthermore, the demographics of universities will change rapidly with
less Europeans and more wealthy overseas students joiningin. We can expect that
Europeans will opt for free or cheaper universities elsewhere on the continent for example
in France, Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium. Unprecedented times are coming for the
UK with consequences of covid-19 and Brexit weighting it down.
This whole situation made me realise how incredibly lucky I was, I was at the right time at
the right place and managed to study at UCL. I will always have such fond memories of my
time at UCL and am excited for my grandkid’s history project where they’ll be asking their
grandparents: What did you do in 2020? I will be remembering working in a genomics lab,
fleeing London, learning how to code during quarantine and last but not least graduating
with a first class honours from UCL. What a year to remember.