University life: From 50 years ago to now (2019)

Summary

While we may not be travelling around on hoverboards or wearing self-tying shoes, a lot has changed between 1969 and 2019, and higher education and university are just two of those things.The internet has changed how university students study, prices of fees and accommodation have rocketed and smartphones have made socialising so much easier. We take a look back at just how university life has evolved, and the major changes that have made university life both easier and harder. Dr Mike Jackson OBE​ – University of Southampton, botany and geography, 1969Contact hours for lectures and practical classes were high. Studying botany, geography and geology, we had weekly practical classes that would last all day, or at least a whole afternoon. I also attended field courses with the geography department.Each course was examined – in full – at the end of each academic year in three-hour essay exams. There was no continual assessment for the first two years and no resits. ​​I managed on about £5 a week in my accommodation for the first two years. We had to wear an academic black gown to every breakfast and dinner. My entertainment centred on Southampton’s thriving students’ union, which featured gigs from the likes of Pink Floyd in their early days.​The campus was quite left-wing and politically charged, but not very racially diverse. The majority of students came from the Home Counties and those of us from the Midlands and further north were in the minority.Simple handheld calculators didn’t appear (and were very expensive) until the mid-1970s and there were no laptops or computers. We had to rely on the university’s library and its filing system.​Barbara Hibbert​ – University of Leeds, history, 1979There were no tuition fees when I went to university and I got a small maintenance grant that was means tested. ​In my first year I think the full grant was £850 and by the third year it was £1,200. The minimum grant was £50, which everyone got, regardless of parental income. I w...