Durham University

[EwwSprouts]

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

June 2023 End of term for all. Hopefully young people are brim full of plans for summer fun and jobs to pay for it!

Link to old thread
]Previous thread (fingers crossed!)

Thanks @EwwSprouts - it works 😊. DD is feeling a bit sad today as Y1 is almost over. She has had a blast. Her group took Browns boats out on the Wear today, and she had the college ball Monday. She's also had her training for being on a theatre company Exec for next year. I think she will sleep for a week when she comes home and we are placing bets on how soon she declares that she is bored. She is hoping to pick up some shifts in the pub she used to work in, but it's under new management so not sure if they need anyone. We are not looking forward to 6 hours there on Friday and the same back on Saturday - praying for dry weather and quiet roads.

Hello, thanks for the new thread.
Anyone else affected by the lecturer’s marking ban? My dd is supposed to be graduating this year and has her graduation ceremony booked for July but still hasn’t had her dissertation or other work marked. Latest was the graduation will be a celebration of end of studies and there will be another graduation ceremony in spring 2024. Beyond fed up with it all at the moment.

Phew! I couldn't copy the list of names across as some of them are no longer used but I have no idea which ones. Sorry everyone.

Wow that is a long journey. I can there and back in a day. DS came home last week for sport and free food! Bit of a shame that he missed the honours ball but he enjoyed the college day and varsity sport. Theatre company exec sounds like serious responsibility. Pubs round here are taking on staff so hopefully she will pick up shifts. DS is doing a bit of lifeguarding now and has a job at a kids sport camp for the six weeks holiday.

@SpringSparrow DS is a first year so they are very properly down the list for marking. I have much sympathy for your DD, my goddaughter is in the same boat.

Dd is second year so not in as crucial a situation as those graduating this year. She has had most but not all of her exam/ modules marks back today .she has no idea if the unmarked work will be marked. I’m guessing they’ll have to let them all move onto and enrol for the next year and then give them missing grades later

I've not been on the thread for ages. My DD is final year. She's had 1 exam marked so won't be able to graduate. I'm so fed up for her. No idea what the 'graduation' ceremony will be. Will she wear a cap and gown? Probably not. There's no point getting photos. We've booked a hotel at great expense because her college has a graduands and parents formal the night before. First world problems but it's been such a challenging 4 years for her and now it's all been taken away from her.

@chocolatenutcase current third years really have had a challenging time of it and now this too. How frustrating. I hope Durham at least make it a little clearer for your Dc

My son is in exactly the same situtation a third year with no results. He also has a job due to start in August which is some distance away that is dependant on his degree result which he won't get. The graduation is a joke, hotel costs, meals etc for what is essentially a farce.
Its so sad that some students are getting results and some aren't. He's living with others who will all get their results this week and for him everything is jsut up in the air!!!

@pinksparkly it's just rubbish isn't it. My DD has leavers formal tonight at college. It should be a celebration but instead it's going to be a really sad for some of them.
I can't shake off my sadness and anxiety about it all.

How are people finding the teaching at Durham? I have a young relative who went and she didn’t rate it hugely. Dc1 didn’t apply because of that. Dc2 coming up to applying and we’re wondering how things are. Dc are at a huge sixth form who don’t seem to rate the teaching there either.

I imagine the teaching will very much depend on the dept/ course/lecturer. My Dd hasn’t been impressed on the whole but also says she has a few stand out lecturers who enthuse and deliver content really well . The poor ones are generally uncommunicative and are switched off from teaching. She has friends who are really happy with the quality of the teaching on their courses though.

i had assumed that all the third years would be in the same boat.. I didn’t realise some are graduating properly and some aren’t! That makes it doubly hard- what a shambles!

I feel for all the young people who are being used as pawns. They are just not being treated with respect. As a professor (not Durham) said to me the other day 'they could have striked over attending conferences and representing the universities'. Interestingly, she has left the union.

@LaDeeDa123 DS is quite happy with the teaching. With lectures, tutorials and lab time there is a good mix and a good number of hours. He also enjoyed his module with the geography dept. He didn't enjoy revisiting chemistry for a term but that was down to the subject.

Would anyone be willing to clarify which courses are the cause for concern ? I have a ds in year 12 who will be applying soon- likely nat sci/ Chem. Thx to anyone able to help

Thank you for the new thread. DS is home, with a project essay thing to do, which he seems happy about as the supervisor is a Professor he likes and finds approachable.
Accomodation problem solved and he seems very upbeat about the student house he will be renting with 4 others. College contacted him 2 weeks ago offering a place, but he and his friend had signed for the house 6 weeks before and didn’t want to change. So glad they didn’t decide to sit and wait to see if College had anything - my nerves couldn’t have stood it!

@monkey42 DS is Chem and has really enjoyed his first 2 years. No complaints about contact, teaching, lab time (more lab time in 2nd year I think, which he was pleased about), if that helps?

Oh, @monkey42 , he hasn’t had the main modules marked yet. Meant to add that. He thinks he will be ok to continue to the Masters like he wants to, as the smaller module marks are good and he sees no reason why the main ones should be wildly different.

This doesn’t feel like a million miles away from the sort of things I’ve already heard about Durham @JudeOfMcDougle The housing situation isn’t great either. Yet it still remains really popular.

Does anyone have any comment on the English course, by any chance?

@LaDeeDa123 Dc is doing a stem subject @monkey42 not natsci/chem so it was important to have the supposed foundational knowledge to build on. It isn't even the type of thing you can research by yourself. A lot of the second years said if they knew this was what it was going to be like they would have left after their first year but were signed into housing contracts. It is such a shame as Durham has a good reputation. As I said he has friends who love their course, department and have really good lecturers. Dc has only had 2 who seemed to like the subject they were teaching.

Housing isn't as bad as it is made out to be in the media. This comes down to location as certain areas are seen as more desirable, closer to town for nights out and budget. The further out ones are cheaper but a longer walk, there are some private halls but they are more expensive than first year halls, I believe many international students live in those.

Lots of universities have been involved in the marking boycott, not just Durham. I feel so sorry for the third years graduating this year who have been through so much already.

DD got an English offer from Durham but didn’t take it as a) it was same as her offer from Cambridge b) it only has 5 contact hours in the third year. No direct experience of the teaching at Durham though.

Dc ( year 2) has heard that any potential retakes of unmarked work will be taken in year 3 .
Just thinking ( correct me if I’m wrong!) This in itself has potential repercussions doesn't it?- Some students might normally give up at that point ( anfter poor results) and do another course elsewhere . If allowed to blindly continue to year three then they are eating further into limited years left of student funding ( if you have done 2 years, you can usually still have another 3) .

Hi all we're just planning DDs graduation and feeling so sad and amazed it is almost over! From Lockdown in 2020 to this.

Unfortunately, after one year of previous study, the 'gift year' has been used up, the calculation being Length of current (new) course, plus one year, minus years of previous study.So, after leaving the first course at the end of year 2, a new 3 year degree course would only be funded for 2, and that would be its second and third years. Presumably a new 4 year course would attract another 3 years of funding, but that would still leave the first year unfunded.Essentially, one year's 'false start' is allowed for, wherever the 'repeat' comes, but just the one year.

Thank you for clearing that up @MarchingFrogs
Makes sense. So actually it’s only year 1s who (if moving onto year 2 blindly and potentially without a pass and then fail any retakes ) could lose the chance for another full 3 years if it all goes wrong

Well we are home after an exhausting two days to driving up to Durham and back again. We arrived mid afternoon yesterday and went for a drink by the river in the sunshine, then had a wonderful meal at The Rabbit Hole. DD's room looked like a bomb had hit it - her clothes were packed but nothing else. Photos still all up and everything else seemed to be on the floor. Miraculously when we got to her this morning at 8am - early because of the long drive home and because it's easier to negotiate the Bailey on market day before it is too crowded, especially as we couldn't exit over Prebends Bridge - everything was in a bag or box. A very tight squeeze in the car, despite us collecting 2 bags of winder stuff last time we were up. She was really sad to leave (but is seeing some of her friends again on Monday as it is one of their birthdays).