Hello,

Thanks for your suggestion. As you may be aware, I am 100% in support of you and the many other students that are expected to hand in paper copies of work but don’t feel like they should be expected to pay for it (particularly when alternative options are available.)

I have been working with the University to implement University-wide online submission, so no matter what subject you study you will be able to submit your work online where appropriate. (e.g. if you have done a sculpture or piece of art work it will be a physical hand in rather than online.) Last academic year the University passed a policy that would mandate the entire University to use online submission; however, the week before the 2015/16 academic year started this was retracted because they didn’t think they would be able to implement it well and it would be better not to implement it rather than have a bad service. The aim of the University was to implement online submission for the coming (2016/17) academic year, however, I was informed last month that again this date of implementation would be postponed. When I asked what the timeframe was, I received no answer.

With regards specifically to printing credits, there is no University policy that outlines how much should be provided for students. There are very few departments that provide printing credits to students, but that is because they chose to rather than because they have to. The University is reluctant to make this compulsory for all parts of the University because of the large cost to them for this and also the fact that they are intending to move to online submission as soon as possible.

I have a meeting in the next couple of weeks to determine the principles of what should be provided to students for them to be able to complete their degree and I will be sure to bring up the cost of printing in that meeting. Alongside that, I am working to lobby the University to prioritise the implementation of online submission so that printing and paper hand ins are no longer a concern.

Sorry for the long response, I felt it was best to provide you with the information and context that I have. If you have any further questions feel free to submit another You Make Change or email me on vpeducation@susu.org.

Thanks,

Shruti