Last year the University decided not to continue using Queen's Hospital Close (QHC) as an official University Hall of Residence. However, following on from the A-level results, and because of the Fresher's Guarantee Scheme, the Uni's bedspaces became vastly oversubscribed, forcing the University to buy back QHC bedspaces at the very last minute in order to make sure students had a place to stay... This caused a great deal of stress to both University and Guild as we struggled to get things ready to restart QHC. This included bringing in an Emergency RA (with me as President), introducing Student Mentors, allocating Freshers Fest tickets and dealing with a huge array of complaints and queries from worried students who didn't have a clue what QHC was.
Well....it's happened again!
Luckily, everybody was half expecting it this time, and we are better prepared for a last minute addition to the Uni portfolio. As it stands, QHC is getting 150 extra bedspaces (on top of the 50 or so bedspaces that had already been bought by students privately). This figure could well rise.
SO, if you have been allocated a space in QHC, do not worry at all! I can personally testify that QHC is a fantastic hall with an incredible community spirit and professional management. You will have a great year i promise. For now though, make sure you join the Official QHC facebook group and read carefully through your iterature to prepare yourself.
If you have ANY questions at all (however petty) just get in touch that's what i'm here for.
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10 comments:
Will you be President again of QHC?
I wish!
God i'd love that so much.
No at the moment we are asking the old RA to come back in. Most have said yes, we're waiting to hear from the others. Depending what they say i may have to bring in some other people.
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i heard the freshers reps last year were really helpful and friendly, I hope they will be again this year!
What will happen to those students who have again been let down by the Universities Guarentee policy?
told to shut up like the last two years?
The wording of the guarantee policy essentially says that the Uni wil 'provide accomodation' to those under the scheme.
As we have seen in the last few years, that can mean uni halls, private halls, private houses or even hotels!
So yes, essentially they are being told to take what they are given. The fact that QHC is back online again suggests someone in allocations hasn't learnt the lessons of last year.
Having said that, so far there are no 'nightmare' scenarios of students being given accomodations outside of halls, though i may be speaking too soon.
Can hardly say I was surprised to read that QHC is used again! Glad to hear it was anticipated though.
Have there been any rises in allocated bedspaces yet?
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It is the fault of no one in 'allocations', as you say 'someone in allocations hasn't learnt the lessons of last year.'... As far as I know, all students this and last year were and are already housed. Perhaps it's due to the high intake of students the university agrees on. The only way to keep up is by building yet more halls.
Most people don't consider what goes on behind the scenes, when it's actually the fault of the students themselves for not applying or correctly reading the guarantee scheme.
As for 'told to shut up like the last two years?'. Students were never let down by the guarantee scheme, but those who don't apply and then expect to be put in Mason on demand, who wouldn't want to tell them to shut up!
You're right, allocations are doing the best they can with what they are given, but there hasn't been a year that's gone by while i've been at uni where there hasn't been some sort of major allocations issue within the University.
Quite clearly somebody didn't learn the lessons of last year, how else do you explain QHC opening AGAIN? There were no changes to the plan, no extra hall spaces allocated, so what exactly had anybody done to stop QHC opening again?
I've got a great deal of respect for those people working behind the allocations desk. I don't envy them one bit.
And for the record i don't buy your point about the freshers deserving what they get. If you didn't get your choice of accomodation you'd call the hotline and complain too. It's plain common sense.
I believe QHC is kept on reserve (usually knowing that it's going to be used) but on the budget the housing department has they can't afford to immediately buy these bed spaces with the risk of not filling them. They have to be bought at a later date, if needed. No one can predict what will happen each year.
The only way to keep all students happy would be to lower the intake of admissions. But then the university would lose out on a lot of money, it wouldn't be feasible. Believe me I know there is no better way to go about it.
I'm not sure who said 'they deserve what they get'. But even so, you say yourself that each and every hall is as good as the last...
The only short term solution is to incorporate all 3rd party halls within the viewing day so people know what they might be getting. The only problem is, they did this before and guess what, no one bothered to go cause they didn't even want to consider it! The university is already working on making the appropriate literature as clear as possible for students with 2010 entry.
The last remaining problem is that departments are not working together as well as they could. The students running the tours and open days (although told to say certain things) can often be mis-leading. It's all fine making students happy on the open days when they're here visiting, having a nice day out. They'll tell them whatever they want i.e. that they'll probably get one of their choices and if they apply now, they'll have no problem. Little do they know the severe problem this causes later, and the issues for the staff who actually have to deal with it in the end.
Hopefully some day everyone will get their act together and sort it out, rather then blaming the people who really do care.
Agreed, more should be done on open days.
Agreed, it's a wider issue than the uni simply not clocking on to the fact that there is a problem every year. (In a way academic departments don't help by oversubscribing their courses)
However none of that is much comfort to a terrified fresher and his/her very angry parents.
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