The University Observer Issue 5

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VOLUME xViI ISSUE 4

Ne quid false dicere audeat ne quid veri non audeat

2nd November 2010

IRELAND’S AWARD-WINNING STUDENT NEWSPAPER

FEATURES

COMMENT

SCIENCE

Acceptable in the 80s:We investigate the huge increases in graduate emigration

Is sterilising drug addicts an acceptable way to prevent child abuse?

The final frontier: How space travel continues to be a political activity

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Students left waiting more than 14 weeks for grants Amy Bracken News Editor

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tudents are being left waiting for prolonged periods of time to receive decisions on grant applications, The University Observer has learned. New figures released from the Students’ Union have shown that Meath and Mayo County Councils fare worst in paying grants to students, with both councils paying final instalments on January 29th 2010. Similarly, students who have applied for grants are still being kept waiting on decisions and are facing numerous delays. The implications of this for UCD students, aside from the obvious struggle to pay rents and fees, include the fact that students who have not paid their fees cannot borrow books from the library or receive exam results. The University Observer spoke to a postgraduate student from South Dublin who has been affected by the delay: “I’m a Masters student in Arts and Celtic Studies. I applied for my grant in August. Because I’m a postgraduate student, my grant would cover both my tuition fees and give my money in the form of a grant. “I sent in all the official documentation that they required when I applied, but now they’re looking for more detailed documentation such as my earning and my current status of employment, so obviously that takes a bit of time to come through. I sent them that about a month ago, and now they’re coming back and saying they need more stuff.”

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Students left without UCD Connect over Bank Holiday Natalie Voorheis News Editor

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CD students faced mass disruption on their UCD Connect accounts over the Bank Holiday weekend as a result of a major UCD Connect outage. Students were unable to access the website throughout the weekend and full service was not restored until Tuesday 26th October at approximately 1:20 am. IT Services declined to comment specifically to The University Observer about the matter, but released a statement in which they apologised for the inconvenience caused. IT Services cited “an unexpected technical issue with UCD Connect” as the reason for the disturbance. The University Observer understands that the majority of the student body is unaware of how to access Blackboard via a URL address, which operates even if there is a UCD Connect outage. IT Services have now posted links to email, connect files, Blackboard, SIS web and CORE Portal ESS facilities on their website, in case of such an outage reoccurring. IT Services acknowledged that direct logins are an important tool for students and that there is a need for them to be publicised among the student body, stating that that they are “currently reviewing the outage and intend to make direct logins to these services permanently available, the details of which will be posted on our website”. The University Observer spoke to a number of students affected by the outage. Ann O’Doherty, a third-year Veterinary student, told The University Observer: “I feel really annoyed at IT Services about the outage. No email of apology was sent out after the site went live again and I really think they owe it to us.” Another student, Thomas O’Connell,

Ballygowan place flamingos on the lake in an effort to promote UCDSU’s Women’s Week.

a final-year Arts student said: “I was unable to get on to Blackboard at all over the weekend, I had counted on the long weekend to get on top of things, now I’m more behind than before, it’s such a nightmare.” James McKenna of second-year Social

Science expressed his concern to The University Observer: “It’s a real worry, I own a Mac so I can’t download Backpack so am dependent on Blackboard to function. I’ve heard of this happening a good few times before and can only imagine the stress if it happened during exams.”

UCD students can access information regarding scheduled and unscheduled outages from the service announcements available from the IT Services website. IT Services also said in their statement that they “do not anticipate any further problems at this time”.

Confusion surrounds School of Medicine’s extenuating circumstance policy Amy Bracken

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News Editor decision taken by the StaffStudent Committee of the School of Medicine requires medical students to have an official correspondence between their physician and a medical professional within the School of Medicine in order to be eligible for extenuating circumstances in relation to assessment. The University Observer understands that this decision will represent a new

policy for the School of Medicine. This contrasts with the policy held for students of other disciplines, in which a letter from a student’s personal physician confirming that they are ill is sufficient for them to be eligible for extenuating circumstances. A medical student told The University Observer: “To be eligible for extenuating circumstances, they will have to ask their physician or their GP to write a note on their behalf that is a communication between two health professionals. “That’s a departure from the norm,

first of all, but it’s also a vast contrast from what other colleges and other schools within UCD require.” The student expressed his belief that this generates a disparity between medical students and students of other disciplines: “Another way of looking at it is that medical students are being held to a higher standard.” “For Engineering students who want a sick note, that’s decided by their GP. But now for medical students that require a sick note, the validity of that is going to be decided by the people in charge.”

The student stated that he feels that the decision was taken in light of the fact that a number of medical students are related to members of the medical profession and thereby can easily acquire a sick note where they seek extenuating circumstances: “A lot of medical students have parents or uncles or aunts, a lot of which are medical professionals, so it’s very easy in a lot of cases for medical students to get sick notes.” However, a spokesperson for the university claimed: “There has been no change to the Extenuating Circumstanc-

es Policy approved by Academic Council on 10 December 2009. The UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science does not require specific medical notes from doctors. All medical certificates will be accepted and considered by the Examination Board. The Programme Board merely clarified that it regards a doctor’s note as a communication between health professionals and therefore should be of a professional standard. This will be communicated to students, as is normal practice.”


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