Senior academic apologises for timetabling chaos at Cardiff University

Martin Shipton

A senior academic manager at Cardiff University has apologised to staff for major disruption caused by the introduction of a new computer timetabling system before the start of the new academic year.

Nation.Cymru has previously reported how the new system has thrown up anomalies such as expecting medical students to travel 11 miles in 10 minutes from clinical sessions in Treforest to lectures in Cardiff.

A source told us the new system cost £9m, although the university has said it does not recognise that figure.

The disruption follows a difficult year in which swingeing cuts were imposed with the loss of hundreds of jobs and school closures.

‘Lessons learned’

Now Professor Urfan Khaliq, Pro Vice Chancellor of the university’s Arts and Humanities College has stated in an email to academics: “I … wish to sincerely thank the many colleagues across the College who have worked tirelessly to ensure that we have made the progress we have. That includes open days, confirmation and clearing, addressing ongoing issues around timetabling and getting the Hubs/Hybs up and running.

“I must acknowledge and apologise for the significant impact the timetabling project is having on many of you. As a university, we will undertake a ‘lessons learned’ exercise to identify those processes and structures that need to be improved. I know how hard you are working, liaising with colleagues in the Timetabling Team (who are also working at full pace) to minimise the disruption to all. Again, thank you.”

It is understood, for example, that the start of politics postgraduate teaching is being pushed back into the second teaching week of the new semester.

Delays

Another message to academic staff said: “The timetabling team is currently in the process of launching a new system that will be accessed via a platform called Viewer. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen delays, Viewer may not be available until the start of the academic year.

“To support you in the meantime, we’ve set up a temporary area on Learning Central containing group-specific timetables to help you plan your first two weeks. These resources are intended as an interim solution and will be removed once the official timetable is live. Please note that they will not be updated.”

One academic told us: “This is probably the system you quote as a £9m spend. Why? I’ve not used it extensively, but as far as I can see, it does nothing over and above our previous timetabling system (timetables.cardiff.ac.uk).

“Why would a university that is focused on slashing staff invest in a system that could support the salaries of many, many teaching staff – and offers no new functionality?”

‘Broken’

Another member of the academic staff told us: “After the chaos of this last year, we all now know that the university management has a tech-bro ‘move fast and break things’ approach. Well they’ve definitely broken the timetabling system.

“We’re all dreading the beginning of term when the students come back and lots of them will have no idea when and where their classes are going to be.

“The ones that are going to have to bear the brunt of students’ justified anger are the frontline lecturing and professional services staff.

“They like to think of themselves as ‘disruptive innovators’ like that’s a good thing, but this is yet another major management fuck up that’s all disruption and no innovation.”

A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “As outlined in our previous statement, we are experiencing delays with some timetables. The majority of our School timetables have been published and we’re working hard to resolve any outstanding issues. We apologise to those students who are impacted. To support the management and resolution of timetabling queries we have put in place a dedicated triage system so we can deal with enquiries quickly. If students have any questions, they should contact StudentConnect, their School Office or Hyb.”

The spokesperson added: “To avoid any confusion, we are not aware of any ‘changes to start dates’. All start dates remain the same. There could be some delayed seminar start dates, for example, for some students. We are working to resolve these as our statement (and previous statement) makes clear. This is different from ‘changes to start dates’.

“We will not be providing a running commentary as we work to resolve these issues.”