An experience of university life

national | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Saturday October 07, 2006 20:09 by A. Student

University chaos.

Experience University Life.

It is a strong possibility that some students are destined to fail through no fault of their own.

From day one of year one and semester one, numerous problems begin to unfold. After having paid registration fees, the student is expected to “design” a timetable using the computer to screen modules and attempt to fit chosen subjects into available time slots. This task is, in many cases, impossible, due to clashes and restrictions on the modules. It can take between two to three weeks to sort this out at the expense of doing any academic work.

During the first three week period, expenses are at an all time high, with the varying equipment required in order to be able to participate in certain classes. The worst affected are mature students who are reliant on educational grants, as these grants are not paid until about the sixth or eighth week after commencement of college. The result of this is a lack of books until after the mid-term exams. How is a student supposed to study without books?

What about the college library? Simple, there are in most cases a handful of the prescribed text books for possibly a hundred students.

What about “Blackboard”? This is an internet system whereby a student is supposed to be able to access all the lecture notes. In practise, it does not work for a number of the modules, as it can take up to forty minutes to open the lecture notes, which time is not available with a full timetable. Is a student supposed to miss lectures in order to make the time to access notes?

Well, what about doing all this internet work at home in the evening? From experience, and a very bad recent one, attempting this on one’s home computer may result in losing everything on one’s memory stick, setting one back right to the beginning, with a mere two or three weeks until the mid-term exams.

To fail the first semester’s mid-term exams is about the most de-motivating experience for any student.

“Talk about fighting the odds at college”.