I replaced the YouTube app on my SO’s phone with a Brave Browser YouTube link (Brave includes both features out of the box) because having to sit through ads when they wanted to show me a video was driving me nuts…
I use Firefox because of tamper monkey, buy Brave is my go to easy solution for friends so I don’t have to explain about installing extras.
On Android just use Brave browser and turn on the setting to allow tabs to play media in the background. Opera does the same thing.
Not sure what iOS options there are.
Seriously email your IT and/or privacy team at the university level. I work at a university and that would be removed ASAP for sharing PII. If you’re in the US or UK it’s a major violation of your privacy. Unfortunately most IT offices aren’t involved in many of the decisions and many of the people making those decisions are complete ignorant to the situation.
TIL, that’s a great tip! cheers