The Importance Of A Student Voice

Recently, I wrote about my disappointment with particular aspects of my Media and Sociology degree. Although there are many elements of my course that are well thought out and well organised, there seems to be an issue with crucial communication. After sending an email of upset to a member of staff who appeared to dismiss my questions, it was passed on to the head of department who shortly got in touch with me. This particular member of staff explained that due to the Christmas holidays, staff illness and department rearrangements, there had (and still continues) to be a delay in the returning of multiple grades.

Although I feel that I was very empathetic to the unfortunate situation, I attempted to explain that these issues and reasons for delays of grades should have still been communicated to us. As students, we pay significant amounts for our tuition, so the least we expect is simple, respectable communication. I assume that the staff members would expect the same from us during times of hardship, so why aren’t we allowed to feel the same?

I feel that the email helped to communicate to myself the various issues that had caused the setback. However, I do not feel that our position as students was considered. I felt as though I was being asked to take an empathetic stance in a situation that offered me no empathy.

I have hopes that the department will understand how important a ‘Student Voice’ is, hopefully encouraging more thorough and appropriate staff-to-student communication in the future.