To think this response from my fellow student was quite uncalled for and OTT?

[Ahsoka2001]

I'm a postgrad student and for our next assessment we have to do a group presentation. They're randomly assigned and I was originally in a group of 4, but then it turned out the other 2 had been put in by mistake and I was left in a pair with just one other student.

Our seminar tutor emailed another group consisting of 3 students politely asking if me and my partner would be able to join theirs.

Then one member of the group replied at 2am with a huge email (almost 1,500 words) saying that no, it's not OK, because most of their work has already been finished on the basis of 3 people performing, not 5.

OK...I can kind of see what he means, but there's more. He said very bluntly to the tutor that as a "customer" paying £10K his personal time should not be interfered with due to her "poor management of forming the groups" (he thought he'd have to re-schedule free time to accommodate us joining).

Also, he said if she insisted I join his group he would discuss leaving the university with his personal tutor because his confidence in the quality of teaching here would be ruined. He seemed to be trying to tell her how to handle the situation himself e.g. "Most important for you is to consider the options below on how to handle this" and "Consider these points and discuss with your colleagues if necessary".

Also - "Lecturers are required to respond in 72 hours. You gave me less than 24 hours to respond to your email" and "Are you seriously considering inflating the group by 66%?"

^ Just to give you an idea of the email's tone.

Regardless of the tutor's management of things (some other students have had similar thoughts) I can NEVER imagine writing something like that to a lecturer as a student. Am I wrong, or was this an uncalled for response?

I'd send him

www.nationalworld.com/culture/television/the-apprentice-how-to-apply-to-be-a-contestant-on-next-season-of-lord-sugar-bbc-series-and-closing-date-3554241

Fucking knob.

Agree with @Testina I put up with so much bad teaching and disorganization as an undergrad and that was when fees were comparatively cheap! I was far less forgiving on a postgrad course that I’d paid many a pretty penny for. So many lecturers were badly organized, would cancel lectures at the last minute when I’d arranged childcare so I could be there and think nothing of it. Postgrads tend to have experience of the real world and shouldn’t have to put up with a shoddy service, given the amount they are paying. Regardless of whether we like it or not, university education has become a commodity and is bought and sold like anything else. I can see the guy’s point of view - why should he carry the grades of others because the lecturer messed up? Maybe he’d booked a few days off to work to complete the project in an intense block, or he’d had childcare which he wouldn’t have normally and worked his arse off. There are two sides to this and you know it.

No I do agree but there’s better ways of wording it. Sadly universities haven’t changed anything regarding provision, staffing, service since tuition fees were introduced. Which is out of my control but I have to bear the brunt.

Though thankfully I could if I wanted to point out to my students that their course actually runs at a loss and costs more than 10k per student to run and they’re getting subsidised by the likes of the criminology students. I’ve never actually told a student that but I do think it sometimes. 😂

Another lecturer who sees the odd email like this and is thoroughly unsurprised. Thankfully yet to receive one directly but it's just a matter of time.

If I taught in a lab based subject I'd be reminding students of this every other sentence.

ohhhhh, he's definitely minor management material and will spend his working life complaining he's constantly overlooked, his talent isn't appreciated, etc etc. He should invest a bit more of his cash in a 'people skills' course.

There's a couple of fellow students a bit like this on my postgrad course. It's distance learning so seminars etc online and its excruciating when they get going. I'm paying too, and it's to hear from my lecturer and my peers. To be able to just get on and do my work, not the constant pontificating and nitpicking about random elements of the universities procedures. If people aren't happy they have every right to politely raise this but not at the expense of others work/learning.

@JenniferBarkley @DohaDragon - Why is it the fault of your students that their course costs more to run than you charge? They have been sold a product for a price. You/your university need to deliver that product.

It is true though isn’t it? I know it’s not your fault at all and that’s a horrible way to email. But it is such a lot of money I don’t really blame people for feeling that they’re consumers and should be able to expect good service.

Why do you assume it's true? Have you seen all of Doha's materials? No, thought not.

Whaaaaat?! That's awful! I would never take that sort of tone!

That said, if they really have done a lot of work already, he does have a right to be frustrated. Even more so if this contributes to a final degree grade. But there are other ways of dealing with this...

You’ll be the first one moaning when STEM degrees cost 30K in tuition fees, to reflect the actual cost.

They have purchased the opportunity to learn, and complaints about poor administration or conduct that's not in line with the uni's regs or the programme spec are fair enough.

They have not bought the right to a qualification or a particular mark. They have certainly not bought the right to speak to their lecturers like that, and an email with that tone would be against our guidelines for how we expect students to conduct themselves. A polite response that the bulk of the work was already completed likely would have been politely accepted. Or, as others have said, they would have been reminded that one of the aims of groupwork is to practice working with others and that in the real world teams can change.

Bearing in mind the anonymity of this forum, I think the poster can only have been referring to the principle of a service being worth what a person pays for it, rather than any specific tutor's course offering.

"Byeeee Felicia"

You seriously think this is the right approach? Blimey, what happened to wanting to learn? Or are you one of those ( I came across one as a student myself) who thinks they are just buying a qualification and you can treat lecturers like shop assistants if they don't give you what you want and screw everyone else? Not that I would dream of being that rude to a shop assistant.

Could you respond with an R U OK HUN? Just for me?

Literal lol

It's shitty students like that who are destroying the HE sector, pushing good lecturers out with infantilising rules like 'respond in 72 hours or you get a warning from your manager', and students thinking they're owed something just because they paid a few, and speaking to their lecturers like shit. I worked in education in admin for a while and I remember the 72 hour thing, I think it's very common. The management just wanted the money and the staff were treated like shit. These days motivation is on the floor there apparently.

@ChristmasPickleRick - really? 🙄

@Userg1234 'poor service'? What is this, McDonalds drive thru? 😄

We do deliver “the product”. They get 37 hours of teaching a week.

the complaint I had wasn’t about teaching but was about the fact that students are given for free one item at the start of the course. There is an issue with their item and have been told no replacement free of charge as admin are blaming the student for the issue. The student says it’s not their fault. The issuing of items is nothing to do with me but the student contacted me complaining (I do see their point) so I emailed on their behalf saying I felt it was unfair and I’ve been told by admin that they’re not budging. 🤷‍♀️

Is this the first time it's happened? It sounds like the straw that broke the camels back to me.

How does removing the other two from your group then adding you to a group of 3 make sense?

He sounds like a prize arsehole with a sense of self-importance.

I'm surprised the lecturer put you and the other student into one group though. It would have made more sense to allocate each of you to a different group.

I'd bet my money he thinks he is buying a qualification and is looking for any excuse to complain so if (when) he gets a grade he is unhappy with he can try to throw his weight around.

Why are you even posting on this thread if you can't be helpful? Grow up.