April 15th, 2009
Students report late lecturers via text messaging
Students at Manchester Metropolitan University in the north of England now have an opportunity to report lecturers who are more than ten minutes late in class. It seems to be a constant issue which student unions are trying to address with late lecturers not being able to teach the entire structure of a lecture due to poor time management.
With students in the UK paying in excess of (the equivalent of) $12,000 a year to study at some of the most prestigious universities in the world, to suggest students would feel short changed and somewhat out of pocket as a result of lecturers being late would be considered an acceptable assumption.
Earlier on in the year, Kevin Bonnet, deputy vice-chancellor, and Nikki Lee, president of the student union, both from Manchester Metropolitan University, spoke to BBC Radio 4. The recording can be heard above in the podcast bar.
By texting a special number set up by the student union, this enables the union to take away information, intelligence, if you will, to the university and help ensure students are taught properly for the duration of their lecture or lesson.
As every student has a mobile phone, or rather it is almost entirely unheard of for a student not to own a mobile device of some description, this seems to be an appropriate way for reporting late lecturers. By adding a small fee to the text message would help reduce abuse to the system, also.
After attempts to contact the union, they appear to be unable for comment, possibly due to the Easter break.
To throw in some context, each university in the UK has a students’ union, who are there to protect the rights of each and every university student at that academic institution. Each union is then represented by the National Union of Students (NUS). The University and Colleges Union (UCU) is a nationwide union to represent those working at each academic institution, similar to how NUS run but for a different demographic.
The UCU have publicly attacked the “LATE” campaign set up by the Manchester Metropolitan Students Union, but the union believe it is their right to a better, sustained education.
Zack Whittaker, the youngest in the ZDNet network, is a British student at the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he studies BA (Hons) Criminology and Social Policy. His insight into the next-generation is unique and first-hand, sharing his knowledge of the here and now but more so what's next and how to get there.
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