The COVID-19 pandemic has posed one of the most challenging situations for the academicians as well as the students all around the world. Students being the biggest stake holders of the education process, their challenges during this pandemic become even more pivotal. These challenges vary in intensity and type depending on multiple items. In this paper, we analyse and document the challenges particular to the courses of mathematics and statistics in higher education. A survey was carried out for students, who have taken mathematics/statistics courses at universities mainly in UAE, to analyse various items affecting the learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the survey showed that a significant portion of students are satisfied with distance education.