The article points out some of the challenges faced by students at the University of Ostrava,Comenius University in Bratislava and Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, who had almost noprevious practice in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The students fromthe mentioned universities were interviewed to share their experiences with online teaching andlearning during the COVID-19 lockdown. In this paper, qualitative pedagogical research in the localconditions of the three mentioned universities is used, with the processing of answers of selectedstudents who were interviewed as an available sample. The students were also asked to describe theirimpressions of this situation from their social and personal points of view. The focus is on the positiveand negative aspects, boundaries, and problems of online university teaching during the pandemicsituation, as well as changes in the personal life of the students. The aim of this introductory smallscalestudy is to provide a basis for future research on the impact that the COVID-19 situation hashad on the educational process at the above-mentioned universities, as well as to assist educationalproviders in foreseeing and eliminating the possible problems of lecturers when establishing anonline educational environment. Some conclusions are drawn from the interviews that offer potentialfor further research in educational science, because many difficulties from the students? point of vieware related to their social status, lack of social contact, technical problems with Internet connections,the carrying out of lectures and the exams of students. The students? answers are categorized, andeach category is described.

COVID-19 lockdown; education in the pandemic situation; online teaching; attitudes of students