This is a petition opposing the changes that have been made to deadlines and exam timetabling as a result of UEL's campuses being used to host various groups including the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) over the summer.  This has resulted in the loss of reading week and in student’s deadlines and exams being brought forward. Students will also have to leave halls early which means foreign master students will have to find their own accommodation for the months during the Olympic Games, have limited access to university resources and are at the same time are expected to excel in their dissertations.

 Other disastrous implications for students include a lower standard of work and high levels of stress and anxiety. This is symptomatic of a general lack of communication and genuine consultation with students and staff. It is an example of the autocratic style of management currently employed by the University; which shows no interest in cooperating or listening to its staff and students, taking a top-down dictatorial approach rather than providing a listening ear. The changes have been particularly damaging for third year and masters students for whom this year has the greatest amount of weighting upon their degree classification. We feel that there appears to almost be a consensus amongst the university management that students will be happy to be finishing their studies early, this was illustrated by a response received by one concerned student in which Graham Curtis a member of the vice chancellor’s staff (the e-mail was addressed to the VC) told the student that the changes would simply mean they will advantageously enter the job market a month early! This greatly undermines student’s motivations for being at university and wanting to do well academically, even if they do want to enter the job market sooner rather than later, having one month less to finish assignments in the final year may mean that they do not achieve the best possible grade. There has been a distinct lack of consultation resulting in a feeling of helplessness surrounding this situation. We hope that the level of anger around this issue will result in swift action on the part of management in order to ensure that nothing similar happens again and to provide an opportunity for the decision to be corrected (in consultation with students).

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