For the second year running, the University is late on arguably their most important assignment.
Some students' timetables will be released just three days earlier than they were last year, well beyond the University’s policy requiring release four weeks prior to teaching commencing. In conversation with Gair Rhydd, some staff have dubbed the situation “feral”, and others have posed real questions about the University’s administration.
So, what went wrong with timetabling last year, what explanations have the University presented, and how might it affect you this year?
Last year, Cardiff University spent £9 million on a new timetabling system only to make national news when chaos ensued. They had originally hoped this system (which centralised timetabling and room allocation) would create a more efficient process. It didn’t.
As Gair Rhydd reported, the ineffective system even scheduled some lectures in toilets. According to staff, this new system simply “doesn’t work” because the centralisation is “overly bureaucratic".
When pressed on the resulting chaos of these reforms last academic year, Vice-Chancellor Wendy Larner admitted the outcome was “not what it should have been”. However, she made clear the University was “working really hard to address” timetabling issues. However, despite reassurances, issues remain 9 months later.
When Gair Rhydd approached the University with concerns that timetabling seems, again, to be delayed, we received this response:
“Given… the size of Cardiff University there are always challenges… developing timetables. Every year there are last-minute changes which we recognise can be frustrating… We thank students for their patience while we work to finalise timetables and apologise for any delays... We are due to commence a review of timetabling processes…”
Following up with Cardiff Students' Union, they had the following to say:
"The current state of timetabling is appalling... The Students' Union continues to highlight this with relevant colleagues as critical. Over numerous years... we have been consistently raising issues regarding the timetable and lobbying for fundamental changes on behalf of our members...We have also stressed the urgency for a changed approach to student communications, including those on timetabling...The SU is available to support impacted students in raising concerns and navigating any issues arising from the lack of a timetable."
Academic schools have recognised how delays affect student wellbeing, particularly for students balancing their “studies with employment, caring responsibilities and other commitments”. The impact of this raises the stakes from just an administrative issue to a well-being concern.
In conversation with Gair Rhydd, Cardiff Students Against Austerity categorised the fiasco ”a dereliction of duty”, stressing that “students should not have to choose between education or survival”. In a time when 57% of students rely on part-time work to support themselves, this message is especially important.
Timetabling delays have also been devastating for staff, who have commitments of their own to balance. Sources within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences revealed to Gair Rhydd that, in some cases, they “don’t even know what modules they are teaching on”. The University's failure to provide staff with any clarity suggests that more than minor tweaks were required prior to release.
Given students' concerns, it’s not surprising that the Students’ Union deemed an early release “critical to students”. Condemning the current state of timetabling as “appalling”, Students’ Union leadership raised the alarm about the situation, arguing that despite “consistently raising issues regarding timetabling”, the University’s own policy has “failed to be implemented”.
University staff sources offered deeper, systemic criticism of the fiasco, arguing the “...money making side of the University… isn’t aligning with the academic integrity of the University at all”.
Such criticism is supported by an academic in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences who raised concerns about courses designed for around 450 students being forced to accommodate 700 or more students. These adjustments surely deliver the fatal blow to an already struggling timetabling process, while also hindering the quality of education deliverable for each student.
The current situation has produced a promise of a review that comes a year too late, with £9 million wasted on a broken timetabling system, and a student body left in the dark. Cardiff University’s timetable crisis is far from resolved, and there are real questions over how committed the University is to fixing it.
The University attempted to reassure Gair Rhydd, stating that “the timetable is on track to be available from the 25th of September". However, this is the second year we've seen these delays, and we still have no assurances we won't have an "appalling" hat-trick.
Driven by oversized cohorts, impossible tuition fees and with an “administration issue which isn’t affecting administration, [but] affecting staff and students”, the pressure is at a tipping point. How much more can staff and students tolerate?