'I’ve got my timetable!’ was the shout heard in some student accommodation across Cardiff on the 25th of September. This shout came three weeks after the university’s own deadline.
Worse still, Gair Rhydd’s polling indicates 29% of students were greeted by blank timetables on what was supposed to be the last day of this fiasco. So, what went wrong and how were students, staff and local businesses affected?
Delays were initially soft launched on the Cardiff Students app before Hybs contacted students. This transpired when the £9 million system failed students for the second consecutive year. The system was then condemned by students, staff and the Students’ Union.
Condemnation of a system which scheduled lectures in toilets last year is unsurprising. Some students were surprised to receive their timetables on the same day they did last year, which was 3 days after the deadline. However, for many students, especially those studying joint honours, the fiasco persisted.
Gair Rhydd spoke to a joint honours student from the College of Arts, Humanities. “I did everything I was expected to do — I submitted my choices on time and planned my modules carefully around the restrictions I was given.” They were understandably “frustrated” especially because their modules were initially approved.The student’s frustration was compounded by how this failure came to light as they told Gair Rhydd, “I was not contacted about this clash, I found it myself…”
This comes after the University assured Gair Rhydd they were using the last days “... to identify and resolve as many timetable clashes as possible… To provide [students] a timetable that is as complete and reliable as possible when it is released.”
Despite this, many students had to settle for incomplete timetables. In multiple departments small group teaching has been released five weeks after the Universities deadline. Breadcrumbing timetables has offered limited clarity to students and created complications for the wider Cardiff community.
A member of the management team in a Cathays business revealed they felt the fiasco had “a massive effect on non-students and is unfair to businesses.” This struggle recurring raises concerns for businesses, like this one, that primarily employ students.
Our source highlighted this worry: “at least we have an accommodating manager, I really feel for the people who don’t and their employment might be at risk.”
With 60% of students relying on part-time employment to fund their studies, many cannot afford for their employability to be hampered by the university’s incompetence.
The lack of apologies or assurances to businesses mirrors the neglect of students who weren’t offered clarity on this situation. Besides vague emails from their departments creating a new deadline, the wider university’s apology only came in comment to Gair Rhydd.
The university’s centralisation, which a student termed “scandalous”, has placed staff in a hard position. An academic from The College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences noted that “whatever chaos we are managing behind the scenes I hope we’re good enough you don’t see it.” This centralisation, which staff blame for this “feral” situation, has placed staff between a rock and a hard place.
Another staff member’s response to their predicament came with venom. “Staff feel so guilty when they go on strike, … but it gets to the point where it’s the only option. Hopefully the university will listen and it doesn’t have to get to that”. With all-time high tuition fees, investment in £9 million systems and staff hired to rectify this issue, what is Cardiff University missing? Will new schemes like Campus Futures be this disastrous.
In times of change, students place their faith in their Students’ Unions. Notably, the new administration’s comments to Gair Rhydd were their first mention of delays, despite them being privy to the issue for months. With students piecing their timetables together using Snapchat group chats, they’d welcome firm support from our Students’ Union.
Instead they were emailed ‘The Student View on Timetabling’, a document created by our last Union president, Maria Pollard, which noted “students need to be kept more informed”.
The Students’ Union and the Sabbatical Officers, with timetabling in their purview, have made 121 instagram posts since the university’s deadline passed. None mentioned timetabling delays.
This silence led a prominent student activist to conclude the Students’ Union “...may have lost focus of things happening in the now”. With mention of strikes as our “only option”, will these institutions make amends and listen to students, staff and our wider community to tackle the problems we currently face?