Covid-19: An International Student Wellbeing Study in Hungary

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has had great psychological and social impacts, not just on the marginalized population but on the general population as well (Wang et al. 2020). Changing life circumstances and daily routines, job losses, an uncertain existence, etc. make people’s lives more difficult. The COVID-19 outbreak is likely to have a notable impact on student life as well, as the latter have had to face many challenges (Sahu 2020) such as studying via e-learning methods, online exams, possibly losing their jobs, and financial problems (such as paying tuition fees). International students have moved back to their homeland or live in an isolated way in student hostels, maintaining social distance far away from their families and close friends. So far, only a few studies have been carried out to analyze how COVID-19 has affected students’ lives (Sahu 2020, Wenjun et al. 2020, Wong et al. 2007). Four Hungarian universities – Corvinus University of Budapest,8 the University of Debrecen, the University of Miskolc, and the University of Szeged – participated in the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study (C19 ISWS) (Van de Velde et al. 2020, Buffel et al. forthcoming), organized and conducted by the University of Amsterdam (UA) to examine the effects of COVID-19 on student life, involving 27 countries. The research objectives (RO) are the following (Van de Velde et al. 2020:1-2.): RO 1: Assess how the living conditions (physical and socioeconomic status) and workload of higher education students changed during the COVID-19 outbreak. RO 2: Assess how changes in living conditions and workload are related to stress levels among higher education students during the COVID-19 outbreak. RO 3: Assess how changes in living conditions, workload, and stress levels relate to well-being, mental health, and health behavior among higher education students during the COVID-19 outbreak. RO 4: Assess how the associations described in RO 3 are mediated by stressors (fear of infection, boredom, frustration, inadequate information, etc.), social support, and COVID-19-related knowledge during the pandemic outbreak. RO 5: Assess the variation in well-being and mental health among university students across participating universities and countries. RO 5: Assess how the cross-university and cross-country variation in wellbeing and mental health in higher education students may be related to varying (a) university-level, and (2) national policy contexts.