S tudents have been left angry and confused after two Politics modules were cancelled only a week before teaching was due to start.
On 14 and 15 September respectively, second and third year Politics students taking ‘Electoral Politics’ and ‘Media Public Opinion and Campaigns’ were emailed by the Politics Office informing them that these modules had been cancelled due to “staffing availability”. Affected students were requested to pick three alternative modules from a list which had “limited availability”.
However, several students have expressed concern to Exeposé, complaining that the subsequent delay in allocating their new modules resulted in them missing valuable teaching time.
James Woolcock, second year Politics, Philosophy and Economics, who was due to take Media, Public Opinion and Campaigns, commented:
“My biggest issue is being given three days notice before teaching started, so by the time I switched over the module I’d already missed a seminar. As it was during Freshers’ Week, the response time was 72 hours, meaning it caused me undue stress as I had to try to sort it out in time and in person.”
Fellow Politics student Katie Costello said: “I understand that if staff leave there’s very little they can do. What’s far more irritating is that so many of the politics modules for this term and the next are full up. If you lose your first choice module because the university choose to cancel it in Freshers’, then you should automatically get your second preference.”
Links to several of the replacement modules provided in the email were also found to be broken, meaning the affected students were unable to find sufficient information on the modules they needed to choose.
Of the 19 alternative modules offered, the webpages for courses POL3193, POL3194 and POL3197 were not working during Freshers’ Week. One third year student described the selection process as “like picking modules blind”.
Students are required to complete modules worth a total of 120 credits a year.
Geoff Williams, Human Resources Business Partner for the College of Social Sciences, told Exeposé that the decision was made due to confidential staffing reasons. He said: ‘‘It is unfortunate. We fully understand why students are disappointed. We really hope to offer these modules in Term Two but we can’t confirm.”
Bethan Jones, VP Education, commented: “When changes to students’ module choices are required it is important that the affected students are informed as soon as possible and given the widest possible choice in selecting a replacement.”