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callum perry

undergraduate education
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timetabling chaos

With students sitting on floors during lectures, and not having a desk during seminars, it is clear that UEA needs to start measuring how suitable some of their rooms are for teaching.

Last year, students faced a nightmarish timetabling situation. With many seminars un-roomed or students unable to access their timetables until weeks into the term, the University knew that this year they had to improve.

Going into this academic year, we (myself and Maddie, Postgraduate Education Officer) were assured that the situation had improved. The University reported that un-roomed events had been significantly reduced, and that more students received their timetables on time. It appeared that we wouldn’t see a repeat of last year’s events.

However, after speaking to students, a different picture emerged. The University has ‘solved’ the timetabling issue, it would seem, by placing students into entirely unsuitable rooms.

Lectures that are hours long have students sitting on the floor, seminars take place with faulty technology and not enough tables, and students have back-to-back classes in different corners of the campus – having to make it from the Bob Champion Building (by the Norfolk and Norwich hospital) to Congregation Hall in less time than is physically possible.

Another sign that the issue isn’t resolved is that teaching is encroaching on Wednesday afternoons – time students are supposed to have off for society and sports club events. Students are now having timetabled teaching which extends beyond working hours, with some seminars now finishing at 8pm. The situation is not only unfair for students, but also for teaching staff.

The University is unwilling to admit this is a problem – instead focussing bringing down the ‘un-roomed teaching events’ numbers, and claiming this as a success. They haven’t considered the suitability of these rooms, and promising more space by 2019 isn’t good enough.

With UEA set to take on thousands more students over the coming years, the demand for rooms is only set to get worse. We’re calling on the University to acknowledge the problem in front of them, and invest in a temporary building for teaching to help relieve the pressure on students and lecturers.

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