Further assessment delays lead to Economics criticism
The Economics department is facing further student criticism this term, after third-year students were told during the Christmas break that their exam scripts had been held up by external examiners. Students were informed that the assessments they sat at the beginning of the autumn term wouldn’t be marked in time for the beginning of the spring term. The problem is attributed to delays in communication between the department and the external examiners over the Christmas period.
Although the exam scripts have now been returned with only a one-day delay, John Bone, an Economics department representative, acknowledged “any delay, however small, will have been a source of frustration and inconvenience for the students concerned.”
The problem emerges after anger was aroused last year when students had to wait an unprecedented 19 weeks for exam results. Department policy outlines that examination results should be released within 13 weeks. Bone said: “If you really have to wait 19 weeks then we are not following our own policy.” Since the emergence of these events last year, Economics students have worked to improve any faults in the department, with third-year Economics student and student representative Alex Fink urging “students who have issues to go to their board of study reps, who this year are really trying to work hard with the department to improve things.”
Despite efforts to improve department policy, it is clear that student dissatisfaction still prevails, with the issue of overcrowding becoming a big problem. “It all started when they let in too many students. They need more staff, and they need to be able to work better,” said a second-year Economics student. Last term, first-year students were being forced to sit on the stairs in lecture rooms; some students were missing lectures for fear of not finding a place to sit.
Concern has been aroused not just in areas of assessment punctuality, but assessment quality. Charlie Leyland, YUSU Academic and Welfare Officer, said: “I know how hard the Economics department are working to improve the student experience which includes the quality and timeliness of assessment and feedback. This is a generally below average area of the institution.” A second-year economics student further commented: “My main complaint is that the marking tends to be superficial. The procedural essays use a marking system that is based around numbers and really is not very informative.” There are fears that weakness in these areas will hinder student academic progress, although the issue appears to be relatively isolated, with other departments seeming punctual with their feedback.
Results from an independent survey of student satisfaction conducted in 2007 revealed particular dissatisfaction amongst students studying economics. This was regarding departmental feedback; almost 25 per cent of student participants described feedback from their departments – which were mainly PEP – as “poor” or “appalling”.
Bone commented: “We are aware that students want shorter turnaround times in marking” The department recently shortened the deadline in respect of spring term assessments, and Bone says “we are looking for ways of doing likewise for Autumn term.” Peter Simmons, Head of the Economics department, said that the department “takes the issue of speedy communication of feedback to students on assessed work seriously.”
Leyland encourages any students with problems to ask module organisers and tutors to help ensure that they are on the right lines with current assessments. However, she admits that “this is difficult without feedback.” She continued: “If they are dissatisfied with elements of the course they should contact their course reps who are able to bring these issues to the forefront at the highest level within the department, and work with myself to combat these issues.”
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How about the student body stops accusing John Bone for the delays of their feedback? John Bone is a very responsible professor who has been quoted continually for showing his understanding of the inconvenience caused by the delays. He is not solely responsible for any exam feedback i suggest we stop hammering him with accusations.