Everything scheduled assumes you live nearby
The second part of this week’s commuter analysis asks whether commuting students are considered when the undergraduate experience is designed, and finds they are not: evening societies, gaps between lectures, and the assumption that you can return to campus. Nearly a third of students now commute. Commuter students covers getting value from a day on campus.
English tests: expensive, confusing, and hard to book
International students report cost, logistical difficulty and uncertainty in meeting English language requirements — tests that cost hundreds of pounds, test centres far from home, and universities that accept different providers. It lands a week after a major provider was fined for marking errors. Being an international student in the UK covers what is required.
Oxford’s chancellor backs lectures cancelled after protests
Lord Hague has said lectures on gender identity by an academic, cancelled following protests, should go ahead. Under the free speech conditions now in force, cancelling a lawful lecture because of protest is precisely the decision that can be complained about to the regulator — which is what has changed since the last comparable case.
Inclusion that ignores structure reproduces exclusion
An argument that universities addressing awarding gaps through disclosure and individual support are treating structural problems as personal ones — and that racism and ableism are not deficits students should have to declare before anything changes. It is the sharpest critique this year of how support is organised.