Decision-making under Uncertainty: How University Students Navigate the Academic Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic Challenges

Abstract

Decision-making under uncertainty relates to the deficiency of information and problems understanding the nature, effects and responses to the sources of the uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic and governments' response to it created high levels of uncertainty around the problems which students faced. A series of focus groups were conducted to understand the experiences of students across the three years of undergraduate university life to ascertain the problems which students needed to address. The focus groups revealed a complexity of the options related to the problems faced about their university life. The implications of the findings provide lessons for academic and professional services staff in designing and targeting advice and informational policies and practices to effectively serve the needs of each individual student.