Couldn't organise a pi** up in a brewery?

[FraserG]

So after waiting weeks for a timetable from Uni (so I can inform my industrial bosses of which day(s) I will be absent from the office for) and chasing them multiple times, I finally got my timetable through yesterday. At last. However, term starts next Monday (the 2nd Feb) so I basically am giving a weeks notice of the first set of days I'll be away.

To make matters worse, very few EngD researchers are close to the Uni. I *think* the closest is London or Leeds (to Loughborough, all the L's). Either way it's 120miles one way for me from my location, and a lot further for some of those coming from Scotland and further afield.

Now, you'd think that, this being common knowledge to the Uni, that they would try to accommodate this by putting the lectures on the same day, so everyone travels one day a week, right?

Wrong. They put the lectures on separate days. Well that's fine if timetabling needed to do that, so as long as the days are consecutive, we can all book a hotel overnight and stay for two days. Not a problem, right?

Wrong! They put the lectures on a Wednesday morning (9am start) and Friday morning (10am start).

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not adverse to early starts. But I am adverse to having to travel 4-5 hours (by bike or train, 3-4 by car which I don't currently have) one way to the Uni and the same for a return journey, to then do the same thing 2 days later. I will end up spending the afternoon (that they've presumably left 'free' for other work) travelling back home/to the office, not time I can spend actually doing research...

For trains, no train gets me to Lboro from where I am for 9am or 10am in the morning, given the uni is a half hour walk from the train station. So if I take the train, I have to go up the night before and get a hotel or sleep rough (more expense or back pain). Given I have no car that leaves the bike, which means waking up early and leaving the house at about 4am in February, the month commonly associated with icy and wet conditions (ok, not their fault granted but even in a car, ice and rain can be hazards).

Rant over, right?

WRONG! For one module, there are 2 exams in March. Rather than schedule them for the day we're already in Uni (the Friday), they've decided to do it on the Monday. So for 2 weeks in March, I will be going to Uni, at a total of just under 250 mile round trip, on a Monday, Wednesday and a Friday.

And then. Annnddd Then! Today I get an email regarding my first year viva. The dates the lecturer conducting the viva is available are between the 16th and 27th Feb. That's good, a nice 2 week slot to try and get a time, maybe for one of the days I'm already in uni right?

*to the tune of Big Ben* Wrong wrong wrong wrong, wrong wrong wrong wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The lecturer is kindly only available on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons.

I bet by the time he replies to my email asking for a Thursday (so I can get a hotel and spend Weds/Thurs/Fri at Lboro) he'll be fully booked so I'll only have a Tuesday available.......


Ok, rant is now over.


Venting complete.

Grrrirhfasdjkfasdjklcvasjkcvjksfui4weuifwrref

[Kingy]

You need a good 'manager' to sort the scheduling out mate. Bloody academics.

It does all sound very 'Piss up in a brewery'. Don't blame you for being so angry.