Policy in the Spotlight: Reading Lists and Exam Timetables

Students need access to early, clear, helpful information on their courses – earlier reading lists, exam timetables and exam feedback.

Currently, some schools provide their students with reading lists and syllabi well in advance of the start of the semester. This is great, but it needs to be done across all schools in all faculties. Students need to know which books their modules will require so that they can source the cheapest books, and make a start on their reading if they want to, so that the work doesn’t have to pile up later on in the term as it so often does. While many schools have an area on the website where past module syllabi are uploaded, some of the links are dead. Similarly, it is not uncommon to find links to past papers broken. If students are to get the most from their academic experience at university, the University needs to be doing all it can to make sure this information is available to students when they need it. I will push to get earlier reading lists/syllabi.

It is Week 10 (by the traditional UEA calendar) and the vast majority of students don’t have their exam timetables. We have been told that they will become available next week, just 5 weeks before the assessment period begins. This is simply not good enough. Not knowing when exams are is inconvenient for all students, but is especially inconvenient for those who have caring responsibilities and need to arrange childcare, students who need to work during the summer or head into post-graduation employment, international students who need to arrange flights back home. While it is no easy task scheduling exams across the University, we need our timetables sooner than 5 weeks before they begin. If elected, I will work with the University to get exam timetables out sooner, exploring the possibilities of a new system for organising exam times.

The Union has been campaigning for several years for exam feedback, with the ‘Hungry for Feedback’ campaign. After working on this issue for some time, the Union has begun to see some results – the University has agreed to pilot exam feedback in some courses within the Social Sciences Faculty. I would push to have this extended beyond SSF and across all possible faculties.

As always, if you have any questions about this policy or others, please email me (academic[AT]kirstycallaghan[DOT]com) or write on my Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/KirstyforAcademic.