Dear VUW,
I have a question regarding your management of student’s education and the provision of appropriate support for students that you claim to undertake. I write regarding your inability to provide exam timetables for students so late into the academic year.
Why is this taking so long? Students from all areas of the University are getting rather annoyed. Already, Official information requests submitted by students have found that you know how many classes you have, you know how many exams you need to hold, and you know how many students are enrolled in those classes. Why then, have you not provided rooms for final assessment, and a timetable which details this? You have provided answers to the first three questions. Why not the last?
Other universities seem to be able to provide students with timetables at the beginning of the academic year. Some of them are far larger than the one on our humble hill. Some of them have less staff. Some of them have more courses. You can not use variants of these factors in your defense.
This is not an attack with no justification. Unlike drunken and immature first years, some students actively plan and schedule their university lives. Many have families overseas, and wish to secure cheap flights home early. This cant be done without the necessary information from VUW. Others may have children, who would require looking after during these examinations, and perceivably also in the lead up to examinations. Some students may wish to reward themselves post-exam time, a holiday, a rock band playing somewhere in the country, or a tournament overseas are all viable choices.
Without informed and proper timetabling this university is leaving students in an academic limbo. We are held hostage by the apparently incompetent tentacles of an ineffective behemoth. I implore you to actively pursue this issue with the utmost vigour. The students of this university demand it.
Conrad Reyners