Durham University

[KingscoteStaff]

The continuation thread for those with DC at Durham, or applying to Durham, or alumni, or staff!

September 2021 finds us packing, unpacking, meeting old friends and new, and all with our fingers firmly crossed for a positive year!

Will ask DS @321zyx

@chopc @Braveheart35 I'm more than confident DS can sort himself out, he has already had a seminar so I don't think it's as disorganised as he makes out! I think (in my case at least) it's more to do with the way in which they (students) communicate with parents i.e. mention possible problems(drip feed) but not go into any detail - this leaves us worrying unnecessarily as actually they'e fine .

@chopc

He said it’s 50/50 some have timetables & confirmed modules, some not. 5 hours contact time seems extremely low. The admin dept are working from home, no telephone numbers, email only. He has emailed several times.

I agree @321zyx

I am sure they will sort themselves out

DD was informed yesterday that she can not do a module she wanted , she is annoyed as it’s left her with very limited choices and now has to wait and see if she is accepted on the new choice !
She is enjoying but has clearly overdone it and possibly has freshers flu ! All her flat have it but she was feeling very sorry for herself yesterday. She phoned me today and I thought she sounded far better which I think coincided with a good sleep .

Ds has signed up to Student kitchen at the fresher's fair as they get 5 free meals through his JCR. Anyone had any experience of this? www.the-student-kitchen.co.uk/ they provide a meal that you heat up.

I haven't heard one word from ds about actual work! All his messages are about clubbing, food and football. Oh dear. We are having a family FaceTime chat this afternoon, so I will try to glean some info about his course.

What is the opposite of 'on the ball'? Whatever it is, that's ds!

@Vargas yes I recall that was something you were "concerned " about before. I honestly don't think there is anything to be concerned about.

I do feel sad that DS said at Collingwood, the events organised by the college were not well attended and the freps had put so much effort it to them. But hats off to them for the welcome. And I have to say the corridors (in DS case anyway) were well matched with people finding common grounds to make connections.

Apparently the History lectures are about 20 mins away from College. And he has a 9 am start tomorrow. And I have every confidence he will make it no matter what happens tonight as I have witnessed all kinds of things between AL and him going off to Uni 😮

@chopc’s DS and other cricketers may be involved in the first tranche of cricket trials today! Nice weather for it!

Just checked with DS that he was aware of it @KingscoteStaff and he was

Lots of Durham History freshers complaining on Facebook that they have no timetable & don’t know what’s going on. Somebody put a timetable up & many found it really upsetting that there were lectures tomorrow for modules they were supposed to be on. I think it’s a disgrace.

What Facebook page is that @Braveheart35 ?

DS sent me screenshots from Durham History freshers page & messages from a history WhatsApp group. I think he thought I needed evidence that it’s not just him! Shame that some won’t be able to go to their first lectures.

Why are all the admin people working from home? Honestly I work in a school and all the admin people are back in. I do wonder if university managers are operating in a parallel universe to the rest of us , no wonder the academic staff are struggling if the admin staff are not supporting them.

I had an email from a postgraduate research seminar group that I am a member of yesterday going on at great length about how the governments social distancing rules meant that we couldn’t meet in person. I am actually happy to do it on Zoom but felt like emailing back to say ‘what SD rules?’

Ds has given up and asked to be transferred to another module in his own dept . He says people are saying history is chaos.

@Braveheart35 it's ridiculous if there is lecture tomorrow and he can't attend because he hasn't been told about it!

Whom can be contacted about this? Could the college principles offer any advice?

@Peaseblossum22 I met another schoolmum at Ds2's rugby match this morning. She said that Bristol was originally going to be online this year and the Union made a stand against it and campaigned for it to be in person. Perhaps something similar needs to happen regarding Durham admin .......

@Longtimenewsee

And Dd still does not have a campus card! So Cannot access library etc. Was told it would be Tuesday.. then told she would get email to say when to collect. Still not got it

@Longtimenewsee Mine hasn't got a campus card yet either - does their college issue them? Thought it would be straight forward once they had photo and presented ID!!

DS is at his wits end over the Durham History Department. He is doing MFL and History. The MFL department have been incredibly organised. The History department are shambolic. Apparently he needs to do 3 history modules - and yesterday he received an email confirming 2.... although 1 of those clashes with his compulsory language module. He has no idea what the other module will be.

He's sent loads of emails to them but had radio silence.

Annoyingly his student finance will only be paid when his modules are confirmed. Are any other students in the same situation - and surviving on the bank of mum and dad due to the incompetence of the History Department?

DD would like to complain that someone has given her freshers' flu at the freshers' fair (probably).

On that note has anyone had any info about when fees are to be paid? I think someone said accommodation will be invoiced in Oct?

Some reassurance about Durham's History department from some 2nd/ 3rd year Durham parents will be very much appreciated 🙏🏽

@libbytrois my Trevs dd got her campus card last weds, seemed to have to do some Id verification in the college to do this.

So sorry to hear about History admin issues, what a palaver! Really unfair on the kids, I wonder if History is particularly oversubscribed?!

My ds seems a bit unsure about exactly when his Geog lectures are, he knows some are online and some f2f, but he seems pretty relaxed about it so I am going to leave him to it. At least his modules have all been approved.

He is doing college football trials, second session tonight. He has used his bike to get to football, which is good, although even though he is very fit he says the hill back is really challenging! He is now looking out for a running club, and I think he he has an email address to contact about it.

He has been out every night, and even to the legendary Klute, which he says was 'fine'. So far he is mainly socialising with his corridor and with a couple of mates from school. I hope f2f lectures and football will help him broaden his wings a bit.

Even more excitingly he did his first load of laundry today, this required quite a few texts back and forth to me; and similar to someone else on this thread he asked me what setting to use on a machine I have never seen! .

@MidLifeCrisis007

Exactly the same for DS. We spent an hour on Fri with SLC. Back to Durham registry who sent him an email, more or less blaming him for the delay as he had not ‘registered for his history modules’.

I intend to call the registry tomorrow & inform them of the chaos within the history dept & what is going on. I’m sure they don’t want parents interfering, but who do they think are funding these kids, because the history dept can’t get its act together.

As for over subscription, DS said they were told as last Fri’s intro seminar that the course was very over subscribed.

Well they are getting extra income for all these extra students do they can jolly well spend some of it on extra admin staff