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!

It’s not like Durham is underfunded compared to many universities. As soon as the oversubscription became obvious they should have been gearing up to deal with the extra numbers , I accept there are limits on accommodation but there is really no excuse not to be processing registrations . But if no one complains they will just carry on like this

Absolutely @Peaseblossum22

@Peaseblossum22

Totally agree. Obviously the history dept have not ‘admitted’ to the registry what is going on, which is really unacceptable. I do feel the dept is relying on the fact most 18 yr olds will accept, ‘it will all be sorted soon’, as told at Fri’s meeting.

They have known since August how many students were joining.

I did advise DS to contact his personal tutor (the one that the history dept info says every student will have). Wasn’t surprised, they haven’t been allocated yet.

@libbytrois. Dd said the cards get sent to the College . She did the verification bit at her college but her card was not there. The porters have told her they’ll tell her when it arrives .
In other news.. she has lots of f2f lectures tomorrow

@Braveheart35

I did advise DS to contact his personal tutor (the one that the history dept info says every student will have). Wasn’t surprised, they haven’t been allocated yet.

You couldn't make it up!

The knock on effect to no campus card is that dd can’t use the library / IT systems apparently.
Dd at least she has a timetable of sorts ( although one module is still not quite sorted) I am really disappointed for those History students who still don’t know what they should be doing tomorrow. It’s terrible !

History module was one that said no to DD but only on Friday , it isn’t her main subject and after reading what everyone else is saying very relieved , I agree that the department should be spoken to . I feel for you all and it’s frustrating for students to not know what they are doing. Durham hasn’t impressed me !

DD has freshers flu , I think is starting to recover but has felt awful she also was going to do some washing but wasn’t sure , didn’t phone me back so either hasn’t or sorted it out let’s hope it’s the latter

Durham History strikes again. DS had modules confirmed last week and when he got his time table, two of them were not the ones he was allocated 🤷🏽‍♀️🤔. No discussion no nothing.

He has emailed somebody from the history department but not hopeful. I said the lecturer this morning may have been a good place to start finding out whom to actually speak with. But of course he didn't think of it then

Any news @jano69 @MidLifeCrisis007 @Braveheart35 @321zyx ?

Frustrating @chopc . Is this all because of the course being oversubscribed?. Has he got all f2f lectures as normal?
@libbytrois Dd got her campus card today.. which was a good job as she had quite a few lectures and needed somewhere to ‘hang out’ ( study?) between them on campus as it wasn’t worth going back to halls. Has your Dc got theirs yet? Im unsure where she picked it up from but could ask her?

Ds big news is that he booked a slot in the Billy B and was super excited hope it lives up to expectations

@Peaseblossum22 was your DC history as well? Can't recall

No, English but he had picked a history module. The English dept have swopped him back to a different English one now and he’s a little sad that that could be the end of his history journey but glad to be sorted and out of the chaos. He contacted his personal tutor/advisor on Saturday and it was sorted this morning so no complaints there at all .

@longtim

@Longtimenewsee thanks! Campus card was issued yesterday. Phew 😊

This all sounds shambolic.

I am hoping somebody can help! My daughter has received an email today telling her the two English modules she had chosen have not been approved because they “cannot offer any English modules to outside students”, ie those not studying English

Sorry! Bloody phone!!
…not studying English as a main subject. This is due to oversubscription on the English literature course. There is a long and complicated backstory to this but basically she accepted an offer of a Modern languages and Cultures course when she was rejected for Liberal Arts.
After a lot of deliberation she decided that a 60/40 split of Spanish/English was just about acceptable to her as her 2 “free” modules would be in English literature which is her first love. It looks as if now she will be doing 100% Spanish which is so far away from what she originally wanted. She is understandably gutted and despite having had an absolute ball in freshers week, is now seriously thinking of dropping out. I haven’t any idea who she can contact or if she’s even got a personal tutor yet. Help!!

If she wants to drop out tell her to do so ASAP and within 14 days of course start date or she could end up paying tuition fees for the whole of term one. I would advise contacting a central admin dept or student services or similar by email for advice and to try and rectify things asap. Its better by email so she has a paper trail.

@Braveheart35 what was the central registry number you called?

Well, I let off (polite) steam to the history dept today, obv couldn’t go into detail about DS as they are adults now, and all that. I made the point, that’s fine, but whilst the history dept is not confirming modules, the Uni is not registering them with SLC, and therefore, in many cases, students are turning to parents for support.

The chaos is, as confirmed, down to ‘unprecedented’ numbers on the course. I made points re Uni has had since August, some students still don’t have a timetable although lectures had started.

I also made the point that I did not think the dept were fully aware of the stress it was causing to students. I was told all students were informed of their modules last week, which I pointed out was incorrect. My own feeling is, any student wanting to take outside modules from the popular courses of History/Law/English, are going to be disappointed, as I think those within the dept are not been not being allocated what they want.

DS finally got module confirmation this afternoon, all the History ones he wanted, but not the one he chose from English - he’s not too bothered & has chosen an alternative history one.

Apparently Academic supervisor’s have been allocated - though DS claims he knows nothing of this!

@chopc

I called the main switchboard & asked to be put through to the student registry.

@chopc

Your DS might want to call the history dept direct? When I called today, they did at least seem v keen to try & help.

@user1468917781

That’s hard. I think it really is an issue for her personal tutor. I would suggest she phones the dept (apparently only a skeleton staff is only in the office, students can call to make an appointment if needed) and pushes to find out who her academic supervisor/personal tutor is and try to arrange a meeting.