For university students, studying is becoming increasingly home-based, individual and digital

At home, very often in the evening and mainly on their own: this is the previously unseen portrait of university students from various countries and their study preferences, according to the findings of an international survey carried out by Docsity, the student community used by over 34 million people in more than 180 countries and a collaborative learning platform. According to interviews carried out with a sample of 400 students from all over the world, 79 per cent of them study mainly at home and only 11 per cent use university campus facilities or university libraries.

The preference for studying at home is also reflected in perceived productivity: 69 per cent say they are more productive outside the classroom, mainly at home, compared with 14 per cent who choose university study rooms and 11 per cent who choose the library, viewing the university primarily as a place they are obliged to go to, rather than necessarily to learn. The results also confirm this trend from a social perspective: 66 per cent study alone, 31 per cent alternate between studying alone and in company, whilst just 3 per cent prefer to study with others.

The survey also examined the views of boys and girls regarding the obstacles they most frequently encounter whilst studying: 41 per cent of students cited difficulty concentrating as the main obstacle to studying, ahead of work commitments (24 per cent) and issues related to stress and anxiety (16 per cent). “When 79 per cent of students study at home and 66 per cent do so on their own, we are talking about a structural reality by now, a far cry from a rare, individual habit,” said Riccardo Ocleppo, Founder and CEO of Docsity. “University today is seen as a place one attends out of habit. Academic preparation has shifted to the home, taking place in the evenings, without a network of peers to interact with face-to-face but more often online, via video calls or messaging. It is a silent transformation, but the figures make it hard to ignore.”

Against this backdrop, it is hardly surprising that more than nine out of ten students worldwide regularly use AI to prepare for university exams and, more generally, as a tool to support their studies in the run-up to exam periods. Looking at frequency in more detail: 19 per cent say they do so always, 43 per cent sometimes and 29 per cent in most cases. The most widely used function is text summarisation, chosen by almost 28% of users, followed by mind maps at 24%, transcriptions at 23%, quizzes at 21% and chat, which accounts for 5%. These results demonstrate an increasingly widespread tendency to turn to AI tools not merely as a resource for rewriting, translating and reworking content, but also as an aid to overcoming the obstacles associated with day-to-day work or the stress of an upcoming exam. “Nine out of ten students use AI regularly: the debate over its adoption is over. What remains open – and what these figures shed light on – is the role it will play in the quality of their learning,” continued Ocleppo. “Summaries, concept maps, quizzes: the most commonly used AI functions suggest that students aren’t looking for a shortcut; they’re looking for a more effective way to process what they’re studying. It’s a distinction that completely changes our understanding of the phenomenon.”

When it comes to revision, on the ‘night before the exams’, 28 per cent of students rely on notes and summaries they have prepared in advance, 26% opt for a light revision session followed by an early night, whilst 23% still resort to intensive last-minute revision, despite scientific evidence indicating that sleep is a key factor in exam performance. There are also 11% who say they do not have a set strategy and leave it to chance.
“The fact that almost a quarter of students study intensively the night before an exam, despite having increasingly sophisticated tools at their disposal, tells us that the problem has never been access to content. It’s the method. Building effective study habits over time is the real challenge, and this is where we want Docsity to make a difference,” concludes Ocleppo.