Psychology explains why students aren’t flocking back to campus

Isn't this situation similar to that of Working From Home for those workers able to do so. Legitimately, different people have different preferences. Why not let them do what they want if no one loses out? But what can we measure to make sure we are doing the right thing? Businesses could see if it damages profits or business growth or employee satisfaction. Universities might measure class of degree achieved or learner satisfaction. One size is unliklely to please all

The problem is that, prior to Covid, universities were largely set up for on campus delivery. Flexible arrangements were largely only intended as a stop-gap solution to covid. Having significant numbers of students off-campus is not feasible without fundamental change to the way a university operates. Just think about things like efficient use of real estate when timetabling lectures and loss of earnings from on campus-based facilities as examples. My fear is that the gov is forcing a return to pre-pandemic levels of on campus delivery and the students appear to be voting with their feet. This puts universities in a difficult position. I) Go along with the forced return to on campus delivery and suffer a potential backlash in student satisfaction and engagement. Ii) Use dual delivery, which will address the flexibility issue you speak of, but won't be feasible long-term from an organisational or financial point of view as significant numbers of students are likely to elect to study off campus in institutions not optimally configured for it. I suspect the bet is that any backlash, although painful in the short-term, will result in much less upheaval and disruption in the long term and that it's safer to just force the issue. However, that's a bet that may just play into the hands of institutions that most actively adapted to the challenges of remote delivery as a longer term option. It may leave those that didn't in a very precarious situation in which the significant changes they were hoping to sidestep are then forced upon them under less favourable market conditions.