Edi student paying £4,600 for two hours of teaching a week after cancelled year abroad

University of Edinburgh student Emily Hughes is paying full “year abroad” fees of £4,625 this year, despite only receiving two hours of online teaching a week.

Emily’s year abroad to France was cancelled due to Covid, after originally being told by the university that it was ‘delayed’.

Despite having months to sort out a backup plan for language students, Emily says that she was not offered a good alternative by Edinburgh University.

Emily said: “They had some six months from the first lockdown to put together a robust university course, which they didn’t. It was just four online modules of activities, which were basically reading comprehension, and some online quizzes. I was learning more at school.

“It was quite infantilising. We were expecting a bit more than that from our university degree. I’ve been in Edinburgh this whole year, just trying to carry on as normal as a student, but I haven’t had a lot to do, so its been pretty disheartening.”

A spokesperson from Edinburgh University said: “This has been a challenging year for our students and we of course sympathise with those who were planning a year of study overseas, but have been unable to do so because of Covid.