TABLE 5.

Quotes illustrating difficulties of students’ interactions during the pandemic and the support they need.

	Quotes
Social connections and interactions	“It was also difficult to truly get to know my fellow students and it stopped me from strengthening these friendships.” (Y1I132) “It is just very hard to maintain friendships with people who I was only just getting close to before the lockdown. It is also quite hard to meet new people since you don’t speak to people during lectures and you cannot just ask people if they want to grab a coffee together or things like that, which is how I would have made friends before.” (Y2D611) “Seeing each other online is very impersonal and I don’t think you “really” know these fellow students and teachers. This is very unfortunate and demotivating.” (Y1D425) Another obstacle is my work in healthcare. I work in a nursing home and because of this I don’t want to take too many risks and I have as few contacts as possible (unfortunately) (Y1D344).
Communication	“It was always nice to meet up with people in between lectures and it really helped to get to meet new friends. Now, it is firstly difficult to meet up and secondly, you have to actively contact others. Automatically, you are not as socially active as you would be if we had not had this situation! “(Y2I575) “There is no room for “small talk” if you don’t see each other outside of lessons.” (Y1D101) “Especially the small talk between lectures has fallen away. We are less up to date with our daily things while that was always very nice to share.” (Y2D771) “All the staff (professors, tutors, etc.) are very welcoming and kind so it felt comfortable and encouraging when interacting with them.” (Y1I86) “The staff does not respond well to e-mails and if you receive one, you have to wait a very long time for a follow-up e-mail or you have to go after it yourself” (Y1D278) “Emailing a professor seemed weird and uncomfortable because I felt like giving them extra-work.” (Y2I659) “It’s hard communicating over video call because of the delay and not being able to see their body language properly.” (Y1I90)
Social support	“Make “social groups” of 3–5 people which change over time, so we could meet people and make new friends.” (Y1I72) “Non-mandatory seminars could be a godsend and a nice stimulus for discussion for students who don’t have many social contacts these days. For example, in the beginning of the pandemic, a “just-chatting” webinar was arranged that was not about a specific topic but where students could just chat with [the teachers].” (Y2D510) “I wished we would have had the option to sign up for something to have daily interaction with a senior student.” (Y2I622) “I hope the faculty organizes something to get to know other students when the COVID rules do not apply anymore. It’s hard to get to know people online or with 1,5m distance. Even when there are some in person events, it’s hard to actually get to know someone since it is usually in a relatively short period of time and the events are all study related, which means you don’t have time to properly talk to someone and get to know them.” (Y1I198)
Learning and studying	“Very annoying that coach groups are not changed. That is currently our only option to meet new people. Instead of rearranging them they are all the same.” (Y1I119) “It is very difficult to have a conversation online, especially during a lecture with 2 fellow students. Then it doesn’t work at all. I mainly made contact after I had spoken to the fellow student at the faculty.” (Y1D165) “It was sometimes difficult to understand each other online, which made the completion of assignments a little difficult.” (Y1D387) “We are expected to do cooperative tasks. This is just very difficult and not fun under these conditions. Online is not ideal.” (Y2D780) “(…) I have to say that I find it very unpleasant to be taught in this way and I am not at all motivated by it.” (Y1D278) “I think you need extra motivation that you often get from other fellow students but now you can’t” (Y2D778)
Educational support	“I really miss the social pressure of the library, and the alternation between social contact and studying. For example, going to a UL [University Library] together, studying for 2h and then getting coffee is much more sociable, than studying alone in your room. I have much more motivation in the CML [Central Medical Library] and UL. I miss support, and by that I mean ways in which the university continues to motivate its students.” (Y2D608) “Yes some extra support would be appreciated such as a more direct contact to certain teachers when looking for help. I feel that e-mail is sometimes ineffective and one to one contact for asking questions is more beneficial.” (Y1D99) “More understanding for internationals, also understanding that they want to be with their family or in their home town especially because they would otherwise often be alone in their small rented room without a lot of contact. Especially if not a lot of friends have been made in the Netherlands more transparency and inclusion when planning to get rid of online exams.” (Y2I659) “Option to decide by ourselves whether to study from home or visit on site education - giving foreign students the possibility to stay in their home countries with their families instead of isolating them” (Y2I610)
Physical and mental wellbeing	“Due to the lack of the social life I felt depressed almost all the time which reflects on my study and assessment results.” (Y1I46) “(…) Often, I feel isolated and alone, even though life with 7 other students (not medical students). (…) In general, COVID has put a strain on my physical and mental wellbeing. I was suffering from health issues before, but the combination of starting in a new city where I don’t know anybody, the stress of studying medicine and COVID made it worse.” (Y1I198) “At first I felt very lost: (1) new country and completely different program (2) my first year as a university student (3) I had no idea what was expected of me and (4) I had absolutely no one to compare myself to at the start. For me this was very frustrating to have absolutely no idea about how I am comparing to the rest of the generation and what I found hard/easy and how studying is going (Y1I86). “I notice that since I moved to Groningen I feel very “alone” there.(…) Because of this, I do notice that I find the uncertain future of my social student life.” (Y1D338)
Mental support	“I would like it if it were easier to get some type of mental support, as I found it really hard to find any specifically for medical students” (Y1D85) “Mental support, we now receive an occasional email which says that they can imagine that studying is difficult at this time, but it is greatly underestimated and such an email does not help me to suddenly feel like doing everything again.” (Y2D780) “Dealing with stress.” (Y1D427) “I need psychological help (and I will get it), and would like to see the UB and CMB always available as workplaces.” (Y2D617)

D, domestic students; I, international students; Y1, first-year students; Y2, second-year students.