By Ben Mannings Third year history
How a relaxed university environment can do wonders for student mental health, as discovered by Ben Mannings in Spain.
Strolling out of our seminar as part of the end-of-the-day student exodus, a girl from my class told me that she was repeating the module because she hadn’t turned up to the exam the year before. Normally, I might have hesitated to ask why, missing an exam in England is usually a consequence of a serious personal issue. However, the way she said it was with such an air of nonchalance and normality that I decided to risk it. Without hesitating, she answered that the reason she had missed the exam was because she had decided to go to Ibiza instead. A decision like this would be unthinkable at a British university, yet in Spain, where a good quality of life takes precedent over academic success, it hardly made me raise an eyebrow.
Last year, I was fortunate enough to study for a semester abroad in the postcard city of Salamanca, Spain. Famed for its plaza mayor, sandstone buildings and striking cathedrals, the permanence of Salamanca’s architecture has given the city international renown. However, my enduring memory was not the buildings, but the people who inhabited them and their relaxed way of life. Spanish university culture was a far-cry from the culture I had left at Bristol, and ever since my return I haven’t stopped thinking about how we in Britain could learn from it.
Losing the competitive edge:
Students in Salamanca are able to retake almost all of their units, numerous times, across years, without penalty to their degree. If you don’t think you’re ready for an exam, you can simply not show up - or go to Ibiza instead. There was much less emphasis put on one-off exams or essays, and my grades were formed by anything from attendance and weekly essays to class debates and even fictional autobiographies.
Group projects and cerveza:
Another way student stress is limited in Spain is through the extensive use of group projects. Group presentations featured in all of my units and they usually accounted for a large proportion of my overall grade. The huge benefit of group projects is that in contrast to a formative essay at Bristol, working in a group means that the work and stress load is divided. My projects almost always took place over a few cervezas, and although organising for everyone to be in the same place at the same time was a challenge, once everyone did arrive and the sweet nectar of San Miguel began to flow, studying for 40% of my grade never felt more relaxed.
Going back to school
A relaxation of assessment methods, however, was not mirrored in every-day classes. I did not have any lectures in Salamanca and all of my ‘lessons’ were a bit like back-to-school regression sessions. Classes were far more frequent than seminars or lectures at Bristol and attendance was compulsory and monitored. Increased contact hours meant that we covered huge amounts of information and in an average week I learnt much more than I would at Bristol. This also meant that there was much less self-directed learning, which, in my opinion is a major benefit for student well-being.
Fiestas, Fiestas, Fiestas
The relaxed university culture also manifested itself in constant weekly fiestas. By this, I don’t mean regular parties (for which there were plenty), but designated holidays, sometimes national, sometimes local, which exempted students from the day’s study. From Lunes de Agua(a celebration commemorating the return of prostitutes to the city 500 years previously) to the bull-running in Ciudad Rodrigo it seemed almost daily that either the government or University was concocting some reason to legitimise day-time drinking. The best of these were the frequent fiestas de facultad (faculty parties) where each faculty e.g. history or law would cancel the day’s classes and dress up together for a big street party. If this happened in Bristol, I can imagine people using their day off to relax, watch Netflix, or catch up on sleep. In Spain, it seemed totally improbable that anyone wouldn’t be with the rest of the faculty, partying in the street.
Whilst some pressure will always be inseparable from the academic challenges of higher education, Spain has shown that this can be limited through simple initiatives and not ‘over-institutionalising’. Exams are less pressured when they take place in a classroom and not a daunting exam hall. A group project with classmates is less solitary than an individual essay, and the inter-student discussion which it encourages is a valuable learning tool. Increased contact hours and classes with the same people make university a friendlier place, and compulsory attendance means that teachers are more conscious if a student starts showing signs of poor health or missing classes due to it.
British universities must not turn their noses up at Spain’s higher education system. Instead, they should recognise it as an alternative model which values wellbeing over success. An example which to some degree, they should perhaps aspire to emulate.
Just imagine, instead of losing your sanity over an exam you are doomed to fail, you choose to go to Ibiza instead.
Featured Image: Ben Mannings/ Epigram
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