Hugh Brady - UCD's Michael O Leary

Easygainer

Hugh Brady has brought in some concepts which we have yet to see how they get on. Horizons appears to be a success as CAO applications are up and the renaming of faculties to schools doesn't bother me too much. I know there is an element of insecurity to all this rebranding (ie naming the library the james joyce library, having ucd credit cards, renaming the college ucdd etc) but all those have relatively little effect on the actual education.

What does annoy me however is the saving of money at every corner to the detriment of our education. One example of this is the current situation with exams.

1. UCD used to send out exam cards, you now have to print up one. Fine except no notification is given that you have to do this and when you are studying it's not exactly top of the list.

2. I don't mind that the second booklet in an exam is shorter but the lack of rough work paper separate to the answer booklet is a joke. I don't know if this is a cost concern or to prevent cheating but it is stupid. You cannot refer to notes on the cover of the exam book constantly turning the pages, you need a separate sheet of paper.

3. This isn't really a cost exercise, maybe it is, but the turnstiles for the library are a joke. Every other day one is broken outright or has a delay.

4. The works on the admin building being carried out during exam time and during the day. Whatever about haste, they could be done at night - screw the overtime, it ****ing annoys me having to listen to JCBs mauling concrete.

5. The total lack of books in the library and the lack of online journal access. Trinity has far more books than us and whatever about books, the amount of journals is pathetic. For instance, our college hosts an online journal database (something synergy?) yet we have no access to it as undergraduates.

6. Allowing non UCD people to park here so people have to park illegally. The clamping fines therefore lower the price we have to pay NCPS. It is a joke that the college has a vested interest in a lack of parking.

The list could go on but this is a University not a bloody business with shareholders. Funds from the government may be limited but that means doing something different. Funds, student loans, philanthropy or fees.

Red Alert

They've given up exam cards for the 1st year modular students AFAIK.

This construction business is becoming an annoying lark. There is no need to be drilling or the like now. The heating systems won't be needed until next October so there's no need to be messing with those either, as some gang were yesterday.

Irlrobins might be able to fill you in on the rough work paper. You could always just use the margin, as I avoid rough work because you can get marks for showing everything.

panda100

Ah come on give the guy a break...Michael O'Lerary has changed the face of travel....only four years ago you had to take out an overdraft to go on holiday.Thanks to michael O'Leary I can now travel to Barcleona for less then 15 euro......bad thing I think not...

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Im and undergraduate and i use the online journals all the time! I've never had access problems and i think the journal library is fuggin HUGE! Plus the athens login system vastly increases your access.

Did you not get a e-mail to your student account about having to print out exam cards? Sure you can go without it and use your student card anyway.

The_Minister

1) Trinity gets free copies of books - UCD doesn't
2) The turnstiles have been broken maybe 5 times over the year - annoying but probably unavoidable
3) They are fazing out exam cards. As they use less of them the cost of printing rises. There's nothing wrong with having the students print them out.
4)The cost of overtime for working at night would be astronomical. I truely dooubt that the government would look kindly on such a waste of money.
5) I think they said that they might be bringing in measures for parking


In the end they have to be careful with money and spend it wisely. Its Brady's job, essentially.

Firespinner

Firespinner wrote:

1) Trinity gets free copies of books - UCD doesn't

Buh? What?

rain on

Myth wrote:

Buh? What?

by law trinity has to receive a copy of every book published in ireland, and i think the uk too. it's a copyright library or something like that - i forget the name.

Chinafoot

panda100 wrote:

Ah come on give the guy a break...Michael O'Lerary has changed the face of travel....only four years ago you had to take out an overdraft to go on holiday.Thanks to michael O'Leary I can now travel to Barcleona for less then 15 euro......bad thing I think not...

Miss the point much?


Have to agree with the OP. The apparent cost-cutting is a pain in the hole.

The lack of rough work paper drives me insane. I need to plan all my essays and it's not really helpful to have to keep flicking back and forth to the front and back covers.

Library is an absolute joke and there are a lot of online journals that you can only access while you are logged on from UCD. Also as far as I know the Athens log-in isn't used anymore. I asked about it at the information desk in the library at the start of this year and was told that they don't use it anymore and you just log in through your ucd.connect account.

One thing that really pisses me off is the college's focus on doing everything online. There is no consideration taken for students who may not have direct access to the internet and maybe they can't make it in to UCD.
We have to register online, we have to print off our exam cards from the website and we have to get our results from the internet.
Not every student will be able to do this.

Before anyone presents the argument of cutting costs of paper and printing...the college is still perfectly happy to send out letters about "the buddy system" or library fines. Why are these treated differently?

As for the library turnstiles....the amount of times they have been broken is ridiculous, and certainly not unavaoidable. They haven't been there that long ffs.

Bleurgh.....two more exams and this is no longer my problem

beanyb

I have to agree with Peachy and the OP on this one. I find it ridiculous that we get no written notification of exam results. I remember last year it caused a lot of stress to people who were trying to apply for grants since the notice of results on the internet cant be used as proper notification.

The library turnstiles were a ridiculous waste of money. Though it wasnt fully broken, one of the exit ones was acting up for about two weeks just before the exams causing massive delays in getting out.

Firespinner you make the point that exam cards are being fazed out. That would be a good point if they hadnt made us print out our own last year too when everyone was still using them.

panda100

peachypants wrote:

Miss the point much?

I was jokin. I know he was saying that Brady is no frills ,cost cutting like O'lEARY. but come on is this really a bad thing? O'LEARY has revolutionised travel....how many of us have booked free flghts to loads destinations this year and so what If it means I dont get my free packet of peanuts! And these are very petty things people are complaining about.......

peachypants wrote:

The lack of rough work paper drives me insane. I need to plan all my essays and it's not really helpful to have to keep flicking back and forth to the front and back covers.

The rough paper used to be a huge wastage.The front part of the book is absolutely fine and I have to write long essays too. If it wasnt this you would be comPliaing that Brady is cutting down half the amazon with the trees's...he just cant win :rolleyes:

peachypants wrote:

As for the library turnstiles....the amount of times they have been broken is ridiculous, and certainly not unavaoidable. They haven't been there that long ffs.

The library hours have been opened for the longest they've been opened this year since Ive been in college...kudos to Hugh Brady. Im sure the turnstiles cut down on the cost of needing to pay someone to sit at the desk all day and check all library cards. Also the amount of non UCD people in the terrace is a joke...if only we had turnstiles there!Also Ive never seen librocop patrolling more then this year which is great cos It means less noise.

Easygainer wrote:

UCD used to send out exam cards, you now have to print up one. Fine except no notification is given that you have to do this and when you are studying it's not exactly top of the list.

Well I know as someone from the country it used to be really annoying when they used to send exam cards out cos you had to go all the way back to limerick to get it or your mum would have to send it up and would probably get lost in the post! tres annoying! Also I got an email from Mary Clayton I think telling me to print it off......

beanyb

panda100 wrote:

Im sure the turnstiles cut down on the cost of needing to pay someone to sit at the desk all day and check all library cards.

There's still always sitting at the desk, in fact now there's usually two or three.

Chinafoot

panda100 wrote:

I was jokin. I know he was saying that Brady is no frills ,cost cutting like O'lEARY. but come on is this really a bad thing? O'LEARY has revolutionised travel....how many of us have booked free flghts to loads destinations this year and so what If it means I dont get my free packet of peanuts! And these are very petty things people are complaining about.......

There is a bit of a difference between cheap travel and a university attempting to cut back on costs to the extent where facilities for the students are seriously lacking.

Petty? If they are things that impinge on your academic development then they are not petty. How can you consider a complaint about the library to be petty? The place is in bits with nowhere near enough books. Check out the history section or the philosophy section sometime. There are nowhere near enough books for the amount of people taking those subjects. It's hardly the same as not getting a packet of peanuts now is it?

panda100 wrote:

The rough paper used to be a huge wastage.The front part of the book is absolutely fine and I have to write long essays too. If it wasnt this you would be comPliaing that Brady is cutting down half the amazon with the trees's...he just cant win :rolleyes:

Oh give me a break. :rolleyes: The majority of paper used is recycled paper and I would imagine that in turn the rough work paper would eventually be recycled. So no panda, I wouldn't be complaining that he'd be cutting down the amazon. Also, the lack of rough work paper has meant that many people have had to get another booklet for their last answer because they have run out of rough work space. Surely that is a greater waste of paper than one extra sheet?

Exams are stressful enough. It's hardly helpful to have to constantly flick from back to front to see your essay plan. It takes up time and can disrupt the flow of your essay.

panda100 wrote:

The library hours have been opened for the longest they've been opened this year since Ive been in college...kudos to Hugh Brady. Im sure the turnstiles cut down on the cost of needing to pay someone to sit at the desk all day and check all library cards. Also the amount of non UCD people in the terrace is a joke...if only we had turnstiles there!Also Ive never seen librocop patrolling more then this year which is great cos It means less noise.

There is constantly someone sitting in that booth beside the turnstiles just like there was before the turnstiles were put there, infact there are more people now. How has the cost been cut? How much did UCD have to pay for that and how many times has it broken and needed repair? Repairs cost money. There have been at least 4 occasions coming up to the exams where I have been in a queue that went right back to the steps leading down to the SU shop because one of those turnstiles was broken. On one occasion both turnstiles were broken and the cards were checked like they used to be.
If there are non-UCD people in the terrace then the staff there obviously aren't doing the job they've been paid for. More money being wasted.

panda100 wrote:

Well I know as someone from the country it used to be really annoying when they used to send exam cards out cos you had to go all the way back to limerick to get it or your mum would have to send it up and would probably get lost in the post! tres annoying! Also I got an email from Mary Clayton I think telling me to print it off......

Well if you had filled out your forms with your Dublin address it would have been sent there and so you wouldn't have had to go back to Limerick.
As for the email from Mary Clayton, not everyone is going to get that.

I'm all for cutting costs in areas that need it so that money can be put into areas that really need it, like the library. The library is quite possibly the most important resource of the university and ours is an absolute joke.

PaddyofNine

Ah, come on now. We're in third level education, and you're complaining about having to

peachypants wrote:

constantly flick from back to front to see your essay plan.

. Maybe you'd like them to wipe your arse for you too!

As for the email from Mary Clayton, I'm pretty sure that's a blanket-email and everyone with a UCD Connect Account (i.e. every student in UCD) gets it. It's up to you to check it, unless you'd like Hugh Brady to pop round to your house and steam the envelope a bit for ya, make it open easier?

The library turnstiles are working. Sure they're a bit slow, (and there were bound to be teething difficulties in the first year) but at least now you know everyone getting into the library is meant to be there. As for non-UCDians in the Terrace, it's absolutely not the staff's fault. Maybe you want to pop in and have a look? There's no booth for a permanent staffmember to check student cards, and they don't look likely to upgrade it with 6 months left in the Building! And I'm pretty sure it enables the authorities to track student usage, how many people use the place late at night, etc., allowing them to divert the money and resources where they're needed?

Sometimes it seems like some people will complain no matter what!

panda100

peachypants wrote:

There is a bit of a difference between cheap travel and a university attempting to cut back on costs to the extent where facilities for the students are seriously lacking.

Petty? If they are things that impinge on your academic development then they are not petty. How can you consider a complaint about the library to be petty? The place is in bits with nowhere near enough books. Check out the history section or the philosophy section sometime. There are nowhere near enough books for the amount of people taking those subjects. It's hardly the same as not getting a packet of peanuts now is it?




Oh give me a break. :rolleyes: The majority of paper used is recycled paper and I would imagine that in turn the rough work paper would eventually be recycled. So no panda, I wouldn't be complaining that he'd be cutting down the amazon. Also, the lack of rough work paper has meant that many people have had to get another booklet for their last answer because they have run out of rough work space. Surely that is a greater waste of paper than one extra sheet?

Exams are stressful enough. It's hardly helpful to have to constantly flick from back to front to see your essay plan. It takes up time and can disrupt the flow of your essay.




There is constantly someone sitting in that booth beside the turnstiles just like there was before the turnstiles were put there, infact there are more people now. How has the cost been cut? How much did UCD have to pay for that and how many times has it broken and needed repair? Repairs cost money. There have been at least 4 occasions coming up to the exams where I have been in a queue that went right back to the steps leading down to the SU shop because one of those turnstiles was broken. On one occasion both turnstiles were broken and the cards were checked like they used to be.
If there are non-UCD people in the terrace then the staff there obviously aren't doing the job they've been paid for. More money being wasted.





Well if you had filled out your forms with your Dublin address it would have been sent there and so you wouldn't have had to go back to Limerick.
As for the email from Mary Clayton, not everyone is going to get that.

I'm all for cutting costs in areas that need it so that money can be put into areas that really need it, like the library. The library is quite possibly the most important resource of the university and ours is an absolute joke.

Well il guess we'll have to agree to diasgree. I cant see as much as a problem in this areas. At least your going at the end of the year and wont have to deal with theses 'issues' anymore.

panda100

peachypants wrote:

There is a bit of a difference between cheap travel and a university attempting to cut back on costs to the extent where facilities for the students are seriously lacking.

Oh and it wasnt me who made this comparison at first. I was making light of Easygainers comparison in the thread title,so its not me you need to complain to about that,sorry peach of the pants

peachypants wrote:

Well if you had filled out your forms with your Dublin address it would have been sent there and so you wouldn't have had to go back to Limerick.

yeah I didnt have my term adress at the beggining of term and even if I did before Brady they'd always send it to my home address anyway,they did this with quite a fe wpeople.Its a lot more handier getting it off the internet. Oh actually that is another great thing....I love the way you can change your term address and details so easily now through sis web.Used to be tres annoying having to head all the way out to the addmissons building to change details.
Also love the way you can check oral lists through online classes so I dont have to come back up to Dublin to check if I have an oral or not-hurrah for the Brady!!

I'm all for cutting costs in areas that need it so that money can be put into areas that really need it, like the library. The library is quite possibly the most important resource of the university and ours is an absolute joke.[/QUOTE]

Chinafoot

panda100 wrote:

Oh and it wasnt me who made this comparison at first. I was making light of Easygainers comparison in the thread title,

By making light you mean completely ignoring his main point and therefore not actually contributing to the thread?

panda100 wrote:

so its not me you need to complain to about that,sorry peach of the pants

Rofl. Oh panda, I sure will miss your wit. No, really.

panda100 wrote:

yeah I didnt have my term adress at the beggining of term and even if I did before Brady they'd always send it to my home address anyway,they did this with quite a fe wpeople.Its a lot more handier getting it off the internet. Oh actually that is another great thing....I love the way you can change your term address and details so easily now through sis web.Used to be tres annoying having to head all the way out to the addmissons building to change details.
Also love the way you can check oral lists through online classes so I dont have to come back up to Dublin to check if I have an oral or not-hurrah for the Brady!!

And yet again, not everyone has this option.

But yea, you're right I'm leaving so these 'issues' won't affect me. Its the people coming in the college behind us that I feel sorry for. If Brady is so concerned with getting the college up in the rankings then maybe he should sort out the main 'issues' first...like, ya know, the library. The main resource for the majority of UCD students, which in turn will reflect on their results, which in turn will reflect on the rankings of UCD.

But sure, once you're happy everyone else is just a whinger, right? :rolleyes:

Eoin Macollamh

Whether in Europe or the US, the "rankings" are complete BS.

Here's an interesting article on the matter:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200511/shunning-college-rankings

Stepherunie

What gets me is the way things are organised - part of the reason why there has been even more stress on computers this year is because all the radiographers, physios and nurses were brought onto campus but no one thought about computer usage - there are 25 computers in the building for all those students - ridiculous.

The library situation is getting better - at least when the q gets huge libocops lets people in, at the start they couldn't do that because it didn't scan people in so they couldn't get out again.

What really gets me is the way things are now organised - there's noone to tell you to change your address, where to get information, what you should do, I am the way most of my class know how to do all of these things, people in our office couldn't even tell you. It's all very well having all te tins get up online but for gods sake things should be put into the year organiser to let people know how go change there address, or even remind them how to do it. And getting proof you're a student is a pain in the ass too, had a friend who had awful problems trying to get a letter to prove she was a student for her student loan.

The college also doesn't seem willing to fund things to make it state of the art and make it the best it could be. Last year I had to work with an x - ray tube that couldn't actually be used because it was completely screwed and all that worked was the light which actually went on fire a lot of the time.

So my lecturers had to beg for cash for a brand new system rather than a second hand one, the college and government to get enough money refused to fund it, being the only course of it's kind in the country you'd thing there'd be a chance of getting full funding but it wasn't there so the school made a deal with GE to get a new machine and in return GE use the school for training when it's not used by student.

The fact that the college isn't willing to make itself top class in all fields is a bit sad to me. Maybe it's fact that my class doesn't have load of foreign students that discourages them.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

I don't know who you were talking to peachy, but i use the athens login everyday, it's still alive and well. You only use it where your ucd account can't access. You click athens login if it asks you for a password, and it checks with your ucd priviliges to allow access.

As for the off campus access, ALOT of the journals, not all, but 50/50 are available off campus. You just have to log in differently and click on the globe best the journal title in the journals list.

Chinafoot

Mr_Roger_Bongos wrote:

I don't know who you were talking to peachy, but i use the athens login everyday, it's still alive and well. You only use it where your ucd account can't access. You click athens login if it asks you for a password, and it checks with your ucd priviliges to allow access.

Yes which is what I meant by logging in through UCD connect. There are other journals that you can go directly to their website and put in an athens log-in without checking through the journals database when you log-in to ucd connect.

These are the ones I am talking about. These are the ones that used to have a separate login and password (athens) that you had to request from the library inofrmation desk. This is no longer done. You simply log-in to ucd connect and find the journal or site you want through the ucd site and go from there. As you say, it has to check your ucd priviliges.

Mr_Roger_Bongos wrote:

As for the off campus access, ALOT of the journals, not all, but 50/50 are available off campus. You just have to log in differently and click on the globe best the journal title in the journals list.

yea, 50/50. What if all of the stuff you need is in the 50% that isn't available off campus?

Red Alert

what's the problem then?

it's the same as before. all connect does is pre-place the cookie on your computer that you'd normally get from doing an athens login. so if you had an athens login working on a site before it still works through connect. just log into connect, then go and find the journal you want.

Crash

rain on wrote:

by law trinity has to receive a copy of every book published in ireland, and i think the uk too. it's a copyright library or something like that - i forget the name.

Sorry folks, will read the rest of this thread in a min but just to correct this statement -

Trinity is a copyright library. and has been around since the late 1500's so yeah, we do have more books than you. However being a copyright library means we're ENTITLED to a copy of each book published in Ireland and the UK. entitled does not mean given, it means we have to pay for them. Hell, otherwise we'd be suffering the stacks issue we have at the mo (another 6-12months and our storage facilities are full) a long long time ago.

However, we do have copies of the Sonic Adventure books in the library hehehhe...

Chinafoot

Red Alert wrote:

what's the problem then?

it's the same as before. all connect does is pre-place the cookie on your computer that you'd normally get from doing an athens login. so if you had an athens login working on a site before it still works through connect. just log into connect, then go and find the journal you want.

Did I say there was a problem there? I was responding to Mr Roger Bongos about the use of Athens and the fact that I had been told that Athens isn't used because it's all done through ucd connect.

The problem I do have is not the way it's done but the fact that not all journals are available unless you are on campus. As Mr. Bongos said himself, it's about 50/50. Not everyone can easily pop along to ucd.

Hermione*

I actually find the internet thing such a pain, I don't have internet in my house so I have to come up to ucd to do anything like that. Yeah, I live walking distance away, but it's still a nuisance to walk to ucd and back (about 40/ 50 minutes) to print a page. For the poeple who spend an hour or more commuting to ucd, this must be a nightmare.

I used to get my Mum to send my exam card up to me from Limerick, and never had a problem with it getting lost in the post. I usually had it less than two days after Mum posted it as well. Very handy imo, no chance of leaving it in your locker.

humbert

I have to say the printing off of the exam card is more convenient for me, I know I do own a laptop and am fairly computer literate, also if I lose it I can just print it again. The turnstiles I like, it makes me feel a bit better about leaving some stuff in the library, they really shouldn't break as often as they do though. Some people have great difficulty using them but it was the same with the luas machines at first. I also think the connect integration is very handy, I don't use the online journals but it makes it a lot easier to reserve books because I used to need a seperate borrower number and now I don't.
I'd like th see exam cards phased out, the library satisfies all my needs but I've small classes so the demand for books isn't as severe. My biggest problem is the woeful organisation/administration, yes it's a big college etc but when I was queens which is also a big college the difference was astounding in almost very respect. I'm not well enough informed to know what's at the root of it but it really needs to be addressed.

snickerpuss

Most of those things don't effect me but the lack of rough work paper is really annoying, i like to have my essay plan in front of me, it gathers my thoughts together. Most people i know ask for seperate booklets of 4 pages now so thats even more waste then the one page.
Anyhow...not a major complaint.

Stepherunie

Actually a thing that really bugs me is the way some departments show no compassion - a guy in my class was in hospital and sat one of his exams in hospital but had to be discharged for an afternoon because one of our courses refused to make up a seperate spotter exam for him despite the fact he had a perfectly valid reason for not being able to make it, it was that or he'd almost certainly fail.

humbert

As far as rough work paper goes I just write on the exam paper, I'm not saying this as an argument against having roughwork paper and for people doing essays they may have a lot more to write than I do.

rain on

&#231 wrote: »

Sorry folks, will read the rest of this thread in a min but just to correct this statement -

Trinity is a copyright library. and has been around since the late 1500's so yeah, we do have more books than you. However being a copyright library means we're ENTITLED to a copy of each book published in Ireland and the UK. entitled does not mean given, it means we have to pay for them. Hell, otherwise we'd be suffering the stacks issue we have at the mo (another 6-12months and our storage facilities are full) a long long time ago.

However, we do have copies of the Sonic Adventure books in the library hehehhe...

! you learn something new every day

Blush_01

The Athens thing is a joke, I'm having major trouble using LION today because I'm not on campus, despite having my cookie and everything. At least with Athens you popped in your ID and it was done!

Also, why in the hell are we not subscribed to Project Muse? J-Stor et al have links to it, so we can't access what are usually the most relevant articles and it's driving me absolutely crackers!

The library entrance has caused so many more problems than it ever fixed. As has already been said, there are more people sitting there now than there ever were before. Also, it's bloody annoying when it just refuses to read your card for ages, even if nobody else is waiting to get in. It might look prettier, but it's bloody irritating.

I forgot to print off my exam card. It was a pain in the ass. Ok, so it didn't actually cause much hassle for me, or them, but it threw me a bit. As did the lack of rough work paper. When you're in an exam situation you need everything to flow properly. Little fiddly and unnecessary things going wrong or being inexplicably different are enough to mess up your concentration. I don't particularly think that messing around with the little things is life-threatening, but it is off-putting when you're under pressure. Besides, I liked the old card cards. The A4 sheets aren't stiff enough.

I still cannot see the point to the library posting letters to people as reminders of overdue or available reserved books, but end of year results can't be sent out. I'm sure it's simple, but surely the wrong emphasis is being placed on things here? I've suggested that texts be sent instead in the library suggestions book, and they said they were looking into it, but I'll hold my breath.

Also, I didn't get the blanket e-mail about the exam cards. Does that mean Mary doesn't love me anymore? Shucks!

It's so annoying trying to look at any obscure angle on anything with the resources available to us in UCD. Surely we're in college to find a less-than-generic point of view? So many of the books are irrelevant to what we're studying and WHY are books on queer theory/homosexuality in literature written by UCD lecturers not available in the library? That really drives me mental.

Red Alert

oops, i thought what you meant peachy was that since they went over to connect they dropped journals!! :eek:

if you are using old-style athens it uses your original NDS password that you got from computer services when you came first! do you remember yours? the info desk can change it for you AFAIK