When a student can’t submit their essay because the household’s only device is being used by three siblings for school, or because their mobile data ran out mid-lecture, they are experiencing digital poverty.

Digital poverty describes a cluster of overlapping disadvantages: lack of access to devices, unreliable or unaffordable internet connectivity, and insufficient digital skills to make meaningful use of online resources even when access exists.

According to a 2023 report, between 13 and 19 million people over the age of 16 in the UK are experiencing this in some form.

Researchers describe digital poverty as operating across three levels. These are poor access to digital technologies, poor digital literacy and skills, and a reduced ability to convert digital access into real-world benefits, such as securing a job, managing finances or navigating health systems. Each level compounds the next.

In higher education, all three levels matter. There’s an assumption that young people are naturally tech-savvy because they grew up with Instagram and TikTok. But a student who owns a smartphone but has never used a university’s virtual learning environment, an online library database or a collaborative document platform is not digitally “ready” for modern degree study, regardless of how fluent they might be on social media.

Yet........

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