The Journal - Edinburgh Issue 014

Page 1

WWW.JOURNAL-ONLINE.CO.UK

EDINBURGH’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

ISSUE XIV

WEDNESDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2008

AFRICA’S UNFOLDING TRAGEDY » 24

As chaos continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Journal takes an in-depth look at the bloodiest conflict since World War II

Award-winning architecture: Edinburgh’s new informatics forum named best building in Scotland

IN NEWS

Big time Charlie Police net £800,000 cocaine stash in biggest ever drugs bust at Edinburgh Airport

EDINBURGH NEWS » 9

Off the rails

Tram boss quits amid storm of criticism

EDINBURGH NEWS » 9

Not working

As recruitment programmes are frozen and graduates turn to second degrees, The Journal asks if a jobs crunch is on the way

STUDENT NEWS » 12

Breaking the silence

Whatever passions are aroused by the Law of Historic Memory, Spain has turned to look its demons in the eye

Maths Dept: “We can’t handle these numbers”

NEWS FEATURES » 16

SILVIA FOTEVA

» Massive increase in students outstrips funding increase by a factor of three as staff struggle to cope Matthew Moore matthew.moore@journal-online.co.uk FUNDING FOR THE Mathematics department at the University of Edinburgh fails to correlate with the everincreasing enrolment figures that the University currently enjoys according to figures obtained by The Journal. The mathematics department has seen a rise of 30 per cent in its student enrolment in the past three years. However, a failure to match this with an increase in resources has left staff struggling to cope with their teaching commitments.

While the increase in student numbers has been welcomed by the university, many have lamented the disappointing increase in funding. Figures obtained by The Journal show that the department has received only a ten per cent increase in funding this year. The year before saw a funding rise of only 1.5 per cent. Moreover, one disgruntled staff member from the mathematics department, who wished to remain anonymous, said that in some cases the figures underplayed the actual circumstances in the department: “The picture you present is an average. For instance, in courses I lecture, student numbers have gone up from 200 to 300 to between 700 and 800

in three years, more than the increase you are quoting on average.” The academic claimed that pressure on staff was becoming “ludicrous” and the pressure from above to accept the circumstances even more so: “Of course, there is nowhere near the ability to give the same level of attention and support. No one could properly cope with these numbers as the amount of paperwork we have to deal with has probably gone up by a similar amount.” There has also been a considerable increase in the number of overseas students, with 25 this academic year, who are paying in the region of £10,000 per year. It is unclear where the additional

income from the year’s large intake has been allocated. A high profile figure within the department, however, alleged that the lion’s share of the cash had ended up in the coffers of accommodation services. The Journal has been unable to confirm this claim. The University of Edinburgh has an annual income of over £400 million. Tony Axon, of Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) Scotland, said increased funding was necessary: “We welcome the increase in the number of students taking maths and the resulting increase in funding for that department. Continued on page 2

IN FEATURES

Death Cab for Cutie

Jacqui Kavanagh goes head-to-head with the west coast indie favourites

MUSIC » 26

Iain Gray

Scottish Labour leader responds to first minister’s accusations of playing negative politics over independence

COMMENT » 20


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