Imagine you’re an undergraduate first year student that chose the university you’ve enrolled at on the basis of a set of pathways characterised by a large range of optional modules.
You have just carefully chosen your options for next academic year. You were allocated four of your first choices – along with one of your second choices and three of your third choices – because of “capacity restrictions”.
Maybe you’ll realise your academic ambitions in year three.
But then – the day before Good Friday – your university issued an opaque statement, saying that due to “difficult financial conditions” it is operating a voluntary redundancy scheme.
All students, you were reassured, will still be able to complete their course.
But you’re now watching, as one by one, the module leaders on all of the modules you’ve chosen announce on social media that they’ve applied for, and taken, voluntary redundancy.
You ask the university about this – but you’re told that your questions can’t be answered in anything other than generalities until the process is complete.
