Hello all! 

I realise that this is my first official blog of the year, so feel it’s probably worth giving a brief introduction to myself. I’m Ivo, my pronouns are he/him, and I’m your Undergraduate Education Officer. I’ve been at UEA for over 4 years now, having started back in September 2017. I initially did the Humanities Foundation Year, then completed one year of Politics and Economics but ended up changing to Politics and Media Studies. As Undergraduate Education Officer, it’s my job to represent undergrads within the SU and push for the university to make the changes you want. 

It’s no secret that timetabling has been a bit of a mess this semester, however I’m glad to say that things are looking up. I was informed in a meeting on Monday morning that the university is currently on target to deliver the timetable for next semester by mid-December. I’m sure this news will be well received by everyone, but especially those who have been hardest hit by the problems at the start of this semester: the students with childcare responsibilities, the commuter students who need to know their schedule so they can arrange transport, the students who rely on part-time work to support themselves financially. 

In addition to this, I should also mention the work of the Timetable Project Review Board. This team has been set up specifically to investigate how and where mistakes were made in the implementation of the new timetable system. It will also provide recommendations on what steps the university can take to do better on future projects. I’m particularly happy that the university asked me to be a part of the board; I’ve felt quite frustrated over the last few months because I’ve had to put my own projects and goals on hold to deal with timetabling. You may have seen an email sent out to all students a couple of weeks ago outlining the work of the Project Review Board and requesting feedback via this form. I would strongly encourage you to fill it out, as all the feedback we receive will be taken into account. As always, I stand in solidarity with all students affected by the timetabling issues and am fighting to make sure this doesn’t happen again. 

If you have anything you want to bring up with the university and need some support - please feel free to drop me a line anytime.

Ivo