Vulnerability of Students in Times of the Corona Pandemic: Is Social Inequality in Higher Education Increasing?

• Applicant: Dr. Markus Lörz
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research ; Education Systems and Educational Institutions
• Term: from 2021 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 470278283

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

The project “Vulnerability of Students in Times of the Corona Pandemic” addressed the question of the extent to which social inequalities have changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of study duration, intention to drop out, and mental health. In addition to inequalities by social origin, gender, and migration background, the analyses also consider potential responsibility for children and the health status of students. The results of the project show that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, social inequalities in the intention to drop out of university increased significantly for different groups of students. In particular, students with children and students with disabilities faced a more difficult study situation during the COVID-19 pandemic (Lörz, 2022; Koopmann et al., 2023). However, the reasons for this varied according to the student characteristics considered: While differences according to social origin resulted from changed financial conditions (Lörz & Becker, 2022), differences according to migration background show two opposing processes: International students more often intended to drop out of their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic due to limited financial possibilities, while domestic students were more likely to intend to drop out due to limited interaction possibilities (Marczuk & Lörz, 2024). The greatest differences in the intention to drop out existed between students with and without disabilities. In particular, students with mental health problems were at an increased risk of dropping out during the COVID-19 pandemic (Rußmann et al., 2023). Regarding mental health, the results show that female students, in particular, have a higher risk of burnout. This can be explained mainly by the lower resilience of female students (Rußmann et al., in preparation). Overall, the various analyses show that social inequalities in the intention to drop out have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the causes vary depending on the inequality characteristic considered. To prevent an increase in social inequalities in times of crisis, support measures are needed that are tailored to the needs of different student groups. Financial support, for example, only addresses some of the social inequalities. It does not address the difficult teaching and support situation of some students. Regarding the question of how future (digital) study formats should be designed to prevent an increase in social inequalities in higher education, the project publications point to various practical approaches.

Publications

• Dropout intentions of students with disabilities. Vortrag im Rahmen des 4th Forum Higher Education and the Labour Market, IAB/DZHW, Nürnberg/Hannover
  Rußmann, M., Netz, N. & Lörz, M.
  
• COVID-19 Pandemie und soziale Ungleichheit: Hängt eine prekäre Finanzierungssituation mit sozialer Ungleichheit im Studium zusammen?. ZeHf – Zeitschrift für empirische Hochschulforschung, 6(1), 24-44.
  Lörz, Markus & Becker, Karsten
  
• Did the Poor Get Poorer? The Impact of COVID-19 on Social Inequalities Between International and Domestic Students. Journal of Studies in International Education, 28(2), 165-184.
  Marczuk, Anna & Lörz, Markus
  
• Dropout intent of students with disabilities. Higher Education, 88(1), 183-208.
  Rußmann, Mareike; Netz, Nicolai & Lörz, Markus
  
• Dropout intent of students with disabilities. Poster im Rahmen des DZHW-Forschungstags, DZHW, Hannover
  Rußmann, M.
  
• Dropout intentions of students with disabilities. Vortrag auf dem Kongress „XX ISA World Congress of Sociology“, International Sociological Association (ISA), Melbourne, Australia
  Rußmann, M., Netz, N. & Lörz, M.
  
• Dropout intentions of students with disabilities. Vortrag im Rahmen der Frühjahrstagung der DGS-Sektion „Soziale Ungleichheit und Sozialstrukturanalyse“, GESIS, Mannheim
  Rußmann, M., Netz, N. & Lörz, M.
  
• Erschöpfung im Studium und soziale Ungleichheit. Vortrag im DZHW-Nutzerbeirat, DZHW, Hannover
  Rußmann, M., Becker, K., Netz, N. & Ehrhardt, M.-C.
  
• Gender differences in doctoral students' mental health. Vortrag im Rahmen des 5th Forum Higher Education and the Labour Market (HELM), IAB/DZHW, Nürnberg
  Rußmann, M., Schwabe, U. & Netz, N.
  
• Gender differences in doctoral students’ mental well-being in Germany. Vortrag im Rahmen der ECSR Thematic Conference COVID-19 and Social Inequality in Well-being, LIfBi/IAB, Bamberg/Nürnberg
  Rußmann, M., Schwabe, U. & Netz, N.
  
• Internationale Studierende sind häufiger finanziellen Sorgen ausgesetzt. Beitrag im Blog von Wissenschaft Weltoffen. DAAD/DZHW, Hannover
  Marczuk, A. & Lörz, M.
  
• Studierende mit Beeinträchtigung. Forschung & Lehre(1).
  Rußmann, Mareike; Lörz, Markus & Netz, Nicolai
  
• The impact of COVID-19 on social inequalities in German higher education. An analysis of dropout intentions of vulnerable student groups. European Journal of Higher Education, 14(2), 290-307.
  Koopmann, Jonas; Zimmer, Lena M. & Lörz, Markus
  
• Social inequalities in the risk of student burnout. The study demands-resources model revisited. Vortrag auf der 11. GEBF-Tagung, Universität Potsdam
  Rußmann, M., Becker, K., Netz, N. & Ehrhardt, M.-C.
  
• Social inequalities in the risk of student burnout. The study demands-resources model revisited. Vortrag im Rahmen des Fakultätskolloquiums der Fakultät für Psychologie der FernUniversität in Hagen
  Rußmann, M., Becker, K., Netz, N. & Ehrhardt, M.-C.