Central to the Trinity Education Project’s radical overhaul of the College’s undergraduate curriculum was how students are assessed. Much has been made of the introduction of Christmas exams and the struggles to fit so many exams into the condensed time periods at the end of each semester – but we’ve heard little until now about how assessment has actually changed, despite the aim to diversify this aspect of being an undergraduate student. That students will sit 11 per cent fewer exams this year is evidence that, in year one, the project’s goals are already coming to fruition.
The second Summer Series was a hit for both concert-goers and Trinity’s commercial revenue unit. The concerts have proven an excellent way for the College to make money, attract visitors, and grow the campus into a cultural hub without negatively impacting students. It’s encouraging to see Trinity being resourceful and taking advantage of its empty summer campus to earn some extra cash without making students foot the bill for once. Hopefully the College will continue in similar vein when it comes to future commercialisation ventures.
The pilot year of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union’s Academic Senate was plagued by low turnout – something that undermined the body’s ability to become a real cross-faculty platform for discussion. Moves to allow first years to serve as academic senators, and to hold some meetings in the Hamilton, will go some ways to addressing the turnout issue. But the core issue the body has suffered from is one of vagueness: it’s brief is not entirely clear, it has no formal constitutional powers, and it is not obvious how it is meant to feed into the notoriously rigid bureaucratic structures that govern the College.
