THREE HOUR seminars for third-year History students have been met with outrage following their reintroduction in a bid to combat low contact time.
The group discussion period, which rises from two hours, was criticised by the Mail on Sunday in May for making up less than 8 per cent of the course.
Several undergraduates have contacted Vision with concerns that the one-hour increase means the seminars are now difficult to “engage” in.
“It’s too long. It’s more difficult to stay engaged for three hours,” Rosie Litterick, an angry third-year history student, commented.
“We get breaks but some tutors give us ten minutes whilst others give us half an hour.”
Another student said that they were struggling to keep a discussion going for such a ”long period of time.”
The History Department is currently in contact with students about these issues, and has taken the complaints on board.
Mark Roodhouse, a lecturer in Modern History, commented: “We are monitoring the reintroduction of the three-hour seminar for third-year special subjects. I have received one complaint to date from a cohort of approximately 270 students.”
In response, Rosie said: “The department got back to me very swiftly and has been very fair. They have done all the right things.”
Course representatives, students and their tutors will be involved in the reintroduction process with a staff-student open meeting being run to allow students to raise concerns directly.
“I’ve invited the student who complained to do so [attend the meeting]. I will be meeting with newly elected course reps this Tuesday and will seek the views of third year reps on this very issue,” Mr. Roodhouse added.
The department says a reason for their reintroduction is responding to “student calls for more contact time”.
Three-hour seminars were originally dropped in 2003.