I went along to the student forum last week - basically an open discussion organised by the University giving course reps the opportunity to raise any concerns be it academic or non academic issues, with most of the departments in the Uni being represented on the forum to answer these queries. With all of this packed into one hour there is rarely the opportunity for in-depth discussions and often students leave having only scratched the surface of one of the various concerns brought forward as a student rep. Having said this, all comments are noted and assigned staff/departments to take responsibility in taking action which is then communicated back to the next forumI won't go into the specific course issues here but something that has come up repeatedly to me over the last few months is students demanding to know where their fees go, usually as a result of a course not delivering on all those great promises made on application. After putting this question to the last forum, the Uni has responded with this initial document which was presented to the forum for comments. To me however, this really isn't detailed or relevant enough to be of great use in answering the question raised.
From this, I am now pushing the Uni to make this document more course specific to give you a better idea of what money goes into teaching hours on your course, facilities etc so you can have a better understanding of what you can expect to receive in education time, equipment and studio time over the year. This will enable you to keep check on whether your course delivers fully in these areas and whether you are actually getting what you are paying for in your education.
