12 F E ATU R E S Unpaid internship in Coronavirus times. Are colleges and the government caring enough about students? By Eithne Tierney While politics, media and the economy have business owners in the spotlight, one sector of society remains somewhat unseen. The students. Since I started college, I could feel how the system regarded my position as a student, that of a luxury. As with many others I lost my part-time job, my only income in April when lockdown started. On the €203 a week pandemic payment, a new academic year starts. It’s October, and I already owe money to NUI Galway, after I was charged to repeat online exams that I did not pass the first time because the transition to e-learning was rather rocky. On top of that, I have this year’s fees to pay. NUIG needs me to pay €550 in total, 69% of my monthly income. The most interesting part is that I won’t be setting a foot on campus, and I won’t be attending lectures via Zoom. I’m on unpaid placement. It puzzles me that I’m paying fees that I cannot afford to work for free. I cannot help but wonder where that money is going. Is it going to the professor’s wages that are lecturing me? No. Is it going toward the materials and services I will be consuming on campus? No. I’m away, working full-time for nothing, wondering how I will get by. Ireland is trying to adapt to the current situation the pandemic has caused, and the sense of support and community at all social levels is probably the one good thing this virus has brought to our country. This support works at a personal level and also at a social level through income supports and grants, such as the Covid-19 Working Capital scheme. All of us understood that, getting an income to afford a living is a serious matter, and that it’s not always possible to do so alone. The sense of compassion we feel for business is fair, but why can’t those looking for an education get the same? NUIG has failed to provide an accessible education. The repeat exam fees, their flimsy academic plan for this academic year, where students were guaranteed to have physical lectures, and then asked them to return home as the lectures were going to mainly be online; their exorbitant student contribution fees, which are the highest in Europe and the sense of instability that this creates on students. It’s no wonder the hashtag #RipOffNUIG has grown in popularity with 15,600 results on google. We work hard and we are in university working towards a better future, but it seems our youth prevents us from taking advantage of any financial support the government has to offer. However, universities can charge us like a for-profit company too. I hoped that after the nation addressed some vulnerabilities, that universities, and the government might show some insight on how student life is not sustainable without assistance or intervention. It is time to be together, not to profit off young minds.
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 02
First Year Diary By Aine Fogarty The year has properly begun, and it was not what I expected. Of course, I knew work would start piling on, but I didn’t prepare myself for the load. At the start of the week, I’m well organised but as the week progresses it goes downhill and there’s a mountain of work to be done. It’s quite a change from spending the last four months doing nothing but it’s nice to be busy again. The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster and to finally begin to settle into a routine is a relief. As you know very well by this point, all our lectures and tutorials are online for the rest of the semester which has
its pros and cons. Lectures are recorded and that gives me the option to re-watch them as many times as I need, but the loss of the on campus experience is still felt by all of us. We’re all new to this way of learning and so far it’s running quite smoothly. You wouldn’t expect it but there has been a bit of excitement too around campus. Last week. Gardaí arrived in Corrib Village after being told someone had a gun in their apartment. Thankfully it was a false alarm but many rumours spread including that it was a nerf gun. The crowds at the Spanish Arch also caused a bit of a stir and I observed it from a safe distance for a purely journalistic observation! Level Three restrictions have put a downer on us all, but societies have helped boost my
mood! The virtual booths were a great way to meet all the members and find out what each society is about. I ended up joining quite a few societies like Potter Soc and Bród Soc, but I’ll have to shorten the list if I’ve any chance of managing my time. I’m looking forward to making new friends in these societies! My course so far has been great and I’m enjoying the subjects I picked which was a worry of mine. The lectures have been interesting for the most part and thankfully the lecturers have been there for any help I needed. Overall the last few weeks have been scary but the events online and the socialising that is possible has helped greatly and I’m looking forward to the months ahead.
Final Year Diary by Tom Molloy We’re back, kind of. A lot of what I predicted a fortnight ago has come to pass for me. This “online learning” does not suit me at all. I missed one lecture because I’d left my laptop out in the car and I missed another because I just plain forgot. On another occasion I fell asleep, and began snoring loudly, in the background of my girlfriend’s class. I almost had a heart attack when we were asked to turn on our webcams. This wasn’t what I had signed up for! The online learning throws up some interesting situations. The kind of people who dominate every tutorial on-campus almost exploded when they were finally given the chance to express their “opinions” after six months of rising tensions. One fella even decided to change his Blackboard avatar to a topless picture of himself. Yes, this is going to take a bit of getting used to.
Before the current Level 3 restrictions came in, I spent a couple of days on the very quiet campus doing some reading in the library and enjoying the whole area of the Bialann to myself. It was eerie. I felt like the people in the Bialann were working only for me so that was kind of nice in a way. I’ve decided, however, to retreat to my adopted county of Limerick for the foreseeable and wait to see how things develop. The return to study following an extended break is tough. It almost feels like two universes colliding. How am I expected to fit studying into my schedule when there are TikToks to be viewed? Although the days of Tiger King, Normal People, and banana bread seem like an age ago, the mindset is still very much there and the fact that most of us are still in that physical environment certainly doesn’t help matters. I feel like this year is going to require more willpower than
most. Speaking of willpower, I am 34 weeks smoke-free as of today so there’s another thing to be positive about. The biggest issue that has been bothering me about this new college year is the issue of fees. I find it incredibly difficult to understand how the University can charge full fees when the circumstances have clearly changed. Aside from the absolute hames they made of student accommodation, the fact remains that we are paying full price and not getting the full product. This is something that needs to be addressed soon, or else I can see a complete loss of faith in our third-level institutions’ ability to deliver education, pandemic or otherwise. Anyway, this has been an insight into my thoughts over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully I’ll be more adjusted next time. Chat soon.
Mature Student Diary Gary Elbert Now we are getting down to business. Module expectations are taking shape, the learning begins. The process of knowledge accumulation is sacred. Knowledge will humble you; it will eventually render you impervious to ideology, and in an ideal world you will leave college on the road to enlightenment, better equipped to live a life of struggle, hard work, and fulfilment. The more you learn the more you realise you do not know. Ideology is something I purposefully avoid. Ideology is dangerous, it spreads too quickly, rendering its core principles suddenly immune to rational criticism. Yet ideology is hugely adaptive. It may be essential to healthy cognition. Ideology offers a group, a team, a suite of ready -made ideas, extremely intoxicating and attractive to a mind searching for meaning and identity. In the modern world more people are lonelier than ever before. There is a widespread star-
vation of intimacy that perhaps fuels much of the descent into social media posturing. Why be sad when you can go online and be mad? Ideology makes a person alone in a bedroom feel like they are part of tribe. Ideology saves lives. Outsiders, loners, those minds, and bodies strewn along the boulevard of broken dreams, ideology for them is a lifeboat, a parachute, a survival mechanism. The purpose of a good education must surely involve the development of critically thinking independent students who recognise the dangers inherent in ideological spread. Heading into week four of semester one here on our digital campus the task ahead becomes clearer. The university is in a curious position. If remote learning is a success then the college experience, the traditional college experience, of militant Marxism, pot noodles, and beer is effectively finished. Just as remote working is suddenly accelerated and normalised, remote learning
begins its own experimental foray into the official world of degrees. Will future students have the option? Remote or on campus? Will remote learning broaden access to third level? In a post Covid world with artificial intelligence’s upcoming breakout moment, climate‘s end game and rapid technological advances surely closer than ever, the standard university model may suddenly appear quaint, a remnant of a dying culture. Enjoy it, Enjoy the learning process. I try to remind myself in bouts of procrastination how lucky I am. The gift of learning is a gift millions of human beings never came close to having. Think of all the potential lost due to lack of access. Yes, access this year is not as we know it. But it is still access. Having the opportunity to learn, to study, to delve deep into subjects that interest you. That is a privilege. Do not waste it.
