Impact of covid-19 lockdown on students’ performance in the starting phase of food and biological systems engineering

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic situation caused several economic and social changes. The Lockdown created new working (e. G. , Teleworking) and students’ situations (e-learning) under unknown and unfamiliar conditions which induced stress and depression. In this study, we analyzed the impact of the covid19 lockdown: on the percentage of non-presented students, on the percentage of passed students, and on the average score of students. Results showed a clear negative impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on students’ performance. The percentage of non-presented students to exams increased and the percentage of passed students decreased. Furthermore, results showed also a decrease in the average score of passed students for the main core subjects. These results were accentuated for students belonging to the food engineering degree and less noticeable for students from biological systems engineering. This divergence between the two analyzed degrees was also related to the students’ results of the university access exams. Results showed that the less prepared students before university studies were more prone to face difficulties with online classes and e-learning. Future studies relating the socio-economic characteristics of students and the impact of Covid19 lockdown on students’ performance are needed.