Did Covid Send People Back to School?

​Graduate schools across the country are reporting a rise in applications. What was it about the Covid-19 pandemic that made people want to return to education? Dr Suzanne Barbour, Dean of UNC Graduate School explains the phenomenon. Jeff Allum, principal at Blue Light Stories an independent educational consultancy discusses why the pandemic created the conditions that made people reconsider their careers. SCRIPT VO The initial onslaught of the covid pandemic sent us into survival mode, but then with time, time saved from commuting and socialising forced us to take stock. That is why perhaps that universities across the country are reporting an uptick in graduate school admissions. sot DR SUZANNE BARBOUR DEAN OF UNC GRADUATE SCHOOL Applications were up by about 20% for us this year and our new enrollments were up by about the same percentage. VO Dr Suzanne Barbour (pronounced bar-boar) says The University of North Carolina saw an increase of enrollment in public health programs. Higher Education researchers say- this isn't surprising. SOT Jeff Allum, Blue Light Strategies We have seen many examples of people who may have had a good paycheck but not finding any meaning in their work pre pandemic and they saw the pandemic is the time to reflect and sit back and reevaluate their priorities. SOT VO This is not necessarily a new trend, in fact, we've seen it many times before. SOT Barbour when there's an economic downturn, folks tend to go back to school. VO Educational institutions are trying out new and different techniques in order to broaden the scope of opportunities for everyone. That can include shorter programs designed for people looking to upskill and programs that are hybrid or remote. SOT Jeff Allum there have been a lot of achievements in terms of delivering courses online, which is going to hopefully make graduate studies more accessible to a wider group of people. VO But Graduate school remains expensive, while the pandemic made many people want to change career, back to school might not be an option open to everyone.