By: Laura Howarth and Becca Schubert
Problems connected to the Vice-Chancellor’s decision to fund free Languages For All classes for all willing first years have emerged this week. This follows reports of room overcapacity, block-booking of classroom spaces and issues with reimbursement for second year students for compulsory courses sat in their first year.
In a Vision exclusive, the Director of LFA, Dr Margret Ferguson addressed the complaints that have troubled her programme.
With over 1,500 students opting to learn a new language by joining LFA this year, the scheme has proved to be more popular than ever. A University spokesperson noted that there had been “substantial demand for courses” this year.
However, with 2,500 students to manage, there have been serious problems. Ferguson claims that many students signed up for courses late, meaning that the department was inundated with requests resulting in the hold up with the distribution of places.
As LFA had to book the rooms as early as April this year, numbers could only be estimated using figures from previous years.
This has resulted in crowded classrooms and societies being left out in the cold as they are unable to book spaces for use. The majority of LFA classes take place outside of normal teaching hours.
On this note, Student Activities Officer Nick Scarlett has commented that “whilst it’s fantastic that LFA courses are being offered to more students, it’s imperative that the University doesn’t put the squeeze on space for societies. A few societies have made complaints about this, however the opening of the downstairs rooms in the Physics Exhibition Centre should alleviate the pressure in the short term.”
LFA have stated that they are exploring the possibility of holding sessions late in the evenings and even suggested Saturday classes but there are extreme concerns over the staffing for these.
The University’s press officer went on to say that LFA have booked only the number of rooms that they have needed, along with a very small contingency. There have been some organisational challenges because students who were advised to register for the courses in Week One failed to do so and registered subsequently.
Aside from these complaints, there have also been issues for single-subject English and Related Literature students, for whom it is compulsory to take an LFA course as part of their degree. A number of students who completed the first year of the course have not yet been reimbursed.
One student commented, “I did a compulsory Level 2 course last year and I am yet to be reimbursed by the department. £110 is a lot of money and it is a big fault with the system that we have to pay for our LFA course this year before being refunded for last year’s.
“Lots of people didn’t even know how to get their refund which shows that the system isn’t transparent enough either.”
Ferguson was keen to stress that it is the responsibility of the department to reimburse their students, not LFA itself.
Academic Affairs Officer Ben Humphrys emphasised that “LFA is a massive opportunity for students at York and these free courses are a welcome commitment to improving the overall experience at the Uni.”
However he did note that students with problems should “get in touch, we’ll do all we can to sort out any cases that come up.”