Release the exam timetables earlier

Anonymous submitted on

Saturday 19th January 2019

Complete

Is it possible for the Uni to release the exam timetables (at least the provisional ones) earlier than they currently do. It is useful to know dates in advance to plan revision, book tickets home etc. Is it possible for these to be released nearer the start of the semester and not as close to exams as they currently are?

Thanks!


Responses

Here, you can view the complete set of official responses from the sabbatical officers regarding this submission.

Students' Union replied on

Friday 15th Feb 2019 1:55pm

Hello again! 

This You Make Change submission has been open for a few weeks now, and because of the reasons mentioned above by the University's Exams Team it is unlikely that this is going to change in the near future. As there hasn't been much more voting either way I'm going to close this You Make Change submission for now. If the situation should change significantly I'll be sure to open this submission again with more information! 

Thanks for making the submission, and all the best,

Samuel Dedman

(VP Education 2017-19, vpeducation@susu.org)

Students' Union replied on

Monday 28th Jan 2019 1:35pm

Hello! 

Thanks for getting in touch. I actually did a bit of work in advance of this submission reaching me on this exact topic, and have the following from the University's Exams Team:

We do make every attempt to publish as soon as possible as we’re not ignorant of the assessment demands on the student during that time, but I’d be overly hopeful to think that we could get much earlier. We’re pretty much up there with the industry average, too.

So the background - we don’t start scheduling until end October as we want to wait until the start of term has settled down and students are confident about which modules they’re going to take: it then takes 2 weeks to produce a draft schedule, a week for the faculties to sense check it, another week to make any changes and then we publish. We give ourselves a little redundancy time in case something goes horribly awry – for instance, if we lose access to a building at short notice or our software melts down – in case we have to reschedule in a hurry.  

The one we publish on our website in November will always be provisional as there’s a lot of complexity around AER provisions and external exam venues (some repeat year not attending students take their exams outside the UK and our exam period clashes with national holidays). Students’ final timetable, as you know, isn’t available until about 3 weeks before the exam period.

Based on the above it looks unlikely that there will be much of a change, but I'm willing to push this further based on student demand. On that basis this submission is now live on the SUSU website and can be voted upon - make sure you share it with your coursemates! 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to get in touch. 

All the best,

Samuel Dedman

(SUSU VP Education 2017-19, vpeducation@susu.org)

Actions

  • Forwarded to Education

    Friday 25th Jan 2019 1:03pm


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