The COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study.

This project aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on well-being in higher-education students. Our research consists of three parts. In a first part we use the C19 ISWS dataset, which collected information on student well-being during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this in more than 100 educational institutions from 26 countries. With this data we want to investigate (1) to what extent differences exist between the different countries and educational institutions, (2) how these differences can be related to the protective measures implemented by the governments, and (3) by the educational institutions. In a second part, we zoom in on the Belgian context, combining the Belgian sample of the C19 ISWS with information collected through focus groups with student representatives and members of the cells for innovation and quality of education. Not only do we want to identify at-risk groups, we also want to explain how the implemented measures had an impact on the student population and on these atrisk groups, as well as which coping mechanisms students used during the pandemic. The information from these two strands will be brought together to identify best practices that promote the well-being of the student population during future outbreaks.

Keywords:WELL-BEING, COVID-19

Disciplines:Higher education, Social change, Sociology of child, adolescence and youth, Sociology of education, Sociology of health

Project type:Collaboration project