University College Dublin Students’ Union (UCDSU) President Conor Anderon has lashed out against his college for telling students “to expect wildly optimistic amounts of in-person class time that are now not being facilitated”.
His comments come in the wake of a stream of complaints from students to UCDSU who have been informed that their whole course will be moved online, despite an announcement from University College Dublin (UCD) in July that undergraduates could expect their course to be 40 to 60 per cent online, and postgraduates could expect 75 to 100 per cent of their class time face to face.
In a press statement, Anderson said that the university’s estimations led students to sign “leases in Dublin based on the knowledge that some classes would be face to face”, and led international students to travel to Dublin only to “find that their course is now entirely online and they could have studied from their home country”.
“It is not fair to toy with students’ expectations like this, and we call on UCD management to communicate clearly how many courses will be fully delivered online and to explain to students why they are not following through on the promised face-to-face time”, he added.
UCD students are set to receive their timetables on September 7th.
Anderson had previously criticised the college’s estimations in July, calling them “over ambitious”.
“We echo the concerns of academic staff regarding the proportions of in-person learning vs. online learning that management have promised”, Anderson said at the time.
Anderson also said that “based on a cursory look at the proposed timetables for some of UCD’s master’s programs”, the figure “seems to be an exaggeration”.
“I am worried that UCD has been over ambitious in the hopes of attracting international students and filling on campus accommodation”, he added. “This, alongside plans to increase both fees and the number of enrolled students, belies a total lack of concern for student welfare and the public good.”
In August, UCD announced revised estimates for how long students will spend in class next year, after the government announced new public health guidelines. Postgraduate estimations dipped to 20 to 86 per cent, while undergraduate predictions went down to 30 to 70 per cent.
