Pros and cons of online education: Perceptions of higher education students during COVID-19 pandemic

Universities cancelled in-person classes and shifted to online education in many countries due to COVID-19 Pandemic. This research aimed to investigate the perceptions of university students on online education during Pandemic COVID-19. In this mixed research design study, data were collected from randomly selected 500 students studying at various universities in North Cyprus. A mixed study was used in this research and frequency, Anova, and PostHoc tests were used to analyze quantitative data and descriptive analysis and content analysis techniques were used to analyze the qualitative research data. Students agreed with 11 different benefits of online education, such as allowing a better understanding of topics, being educated by different educators and universities. They stated 10 disadvantages such as overload of homework and exams, fear of online assessment, and passive learning. Students explained 7 different obstacles such as not having updated knowledge about using different online platforms, not having a high-quality digital tool to access online courses, internet interruptions, not having a suitable space to study. Data obtained from this research may help universities in North Cyprus to determine and eliminate their weaknesses in online education and in addition re-design their online instructional strategies to meet the various needs of their students. A similar type of research can be done at each university in other countries. Data obtained at each university level may help universities to improve their online education, which will be accessible by all students for equity in education.