Digital poverty is one of the biggest issues facing universities and colleges in 2021, and the poorest in society are being hit the hardest. Digital exclusion is widespread in the UK and has been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, with lockdowns showing that access to technology is an educational necessity, not a luxury.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, universities and colleges have had to quickly adapt to provide students with remote access to learning resources — apps and data. These institutions have shown exceptional agility by delivering remote learning in new and innovative ways under extreme pressure.

Students have also adapted to new ways of learning, accessing resources remotely from home or student accommodation instead of on campus. Almost all learning has happened remotely during lockdowns, unless a course required a student to be on campus to access to lab machinery or other physical assets.

Remote learning has exposed many positives, including flexible timetables, which can accommodate students with full- or part-time jobs and students who are full-time parents; improved accessibility for mature students and students with disabilities; increased levels of engagement and retention; and environmental benefits such as a reduction in carbon emissions from daily commuter traffic. The benefits are so extensive that most universities are adopting an active blended-learning approach, giving students the flexibility to learn wherever and whenever they like in a style that suits them.

“Citrix helps us to future-proof our teaching. We can easily adopt new ways of working and learning. We’re also looking at how we can better support students from economically depressed areas, or those who have additional home or work responsibilities. Citrix gives us the tools to respond to different situations and opportunities.” — Coleg Gwent.

Providing a Blended-Learning Approach

To continue to satisfy the student population, universities and colleges must continue to provide remote learning options whilst also serving those who need to be on-campus due to specific course requirements. In a recent survey conducted by Citrix, 55 percent of students surveyed told us they were still concerned with the spread of COVID-19 on their campus, and 38 percent of students told us they would prefer an ongoing active blended-learning approach.

However, according to an Office for Students poll of 1,416 students during the COVID-19 lockdown, 52 percent said their learning was impacted by slow or unreliable internet connection, with 8 percent ‘severely’ affected. Worryingly, 18 percent were impacted by the lack of access to a computer, laptop, or tablet, and 4 percent said they were ‘severely’ impacted.

The reality is that the lower the household income, the less likely that household is to have internet connectivity at home, with only 51 percent of households earning between £6,000-£10,000 having access to the internet from home compared with 99 percent of households with an income of £40,001 and over, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Recently, there have been calls to increase the child benefit to ease pressure on families struggling to finance their child’s digital requirements. When families are faced with the stark choice of either feeding their children or meeting their digital needs, it is clear to see why so many students are digitally excluded.

Technology Can Help Ease Digital Exclusion

Whilst technology cannot eliminate digital poverty alone, technology can certainly help to provide the same standard of access to education for all students, regardless of social background or situation. But while universities and colleges have begun to provide varying types of remote learning tools for students to consume learning resources from home, they often overlook the student’s ability to access these remote learning resources.

To ease digital exclusion, universities and colleges must deliver learning resources in a centralised model, which can then be accessed by students through a simple, reliable, and secure digital workspace.

By decoupling apps and data from the endpoint device, resource requirements are shifted to the university or college datacentre or cloud, allowing students to use any low-cost, low-maintenance device such as a Google Chromebook or Raspberry Pi to access all their learning resources remotely or while on campus. Adopting a centralised delivery model prevents the need for costly devices and decreases the chance of expensive devices being sold or stolen. If a device is stolen, the student’s coursework is safely stored in the university or college datacentre or cloud, not on the device, preventing a loss of coursework.

Optimising the connection is also crucial. For example, accessing learning resources through Citrix technologies is ultra-optimised using HDX to provide a high-definition experience, even over challenging or long-distance network connections (low bandwidth / high latency).

Graphics-intensive apps are also delivered remotely with pixel-perfect renderings, and transitions between remote and on-campus workplaces are seamless. Optimising the connection equates to less bandwidth required for a home internet connection, driving down the costs of home learning for the student and their families.

“Citrix gives us a secure application delivery method, even for high-end applications like CAD etc., so that an individual can use their own device — whether that’s a Chromebook, laptop, or even an iPad — to run high-end software wherever they are.” — Northampton University.

The cost savings at the device and connection are significant, and these are important benefits in a world where a large number of families that were previously above the poverty line now find themselves either borderline or below the poverty line due to COVID-19, unable to afford the additional cost of their child’s device and the connectivity required for home learning.

Citrix technologies can help universities and colleges make the technological steps needed to start to close the digital divide. By taking these steps, universities and colleges can ensure that all students, no matter what social background or situation, receive the same high standard of access to education whether they are on campus or accessing learning material remotely from home.

Learn more about the present and future of higher education IT.