Students slam ‘juvenile’ row between WIT and lecturers over exam papers

PROTESTING students have described, as “juvenile”, a row between lecturers and management at Waterford Institute of Technology which has prevented Christmas exam results from being issued.

Around 1,500 concerned students yesterday took their anger out in rallies at WIT’s two campuses, where their representatives called on both sides to sort things out.

Lecturers who are members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) voted last week to withhold results of first semester exams and assessments, due to have issued to students on Tuesday. They claim the college has breached agreed grievance procedures in its handling of complaints about payments for correcting exams, which have been halved to around €4 per paper.

But the college says it was bringing the payments in line with those at most other institutes of technology, and has urged the TUI to attend mediation talks at the Labour Relations Commission.

A spokesperson for the institute said last night that substantial progress towards finding a resolution was made at a meeting yesterday and that a further statement will issue in the next 24 hours.

WIT Students Union president Cathy Pembroke said it is completely unacceptable that the only people not involved in the dispute are the ones suffering, and many students need their results to start applying for jobs and further study.

“The students of WIT are calling on both the lecturing staff and the management to display a little maturity and to sit down and agree a resolution to this juvenile dispute. This level of immaturity would not be tolerated of our students.

“The longer this situation is allowed to continue, the more damage will be done to the image and reputation of both the institution and lecturing staff.”

Meanwhile, adult learning organisation AONTAS has called on the Government to get serious about providing training and education initiatives for unemployed people, following a rise in mature students among an overall rise in applications for third-level places.

There has been speculation that Leaving Certificate points needed for entry to many courses through the Central Applications Office (CAO) will rise as a result.

However, while numbers seeking places through the CAO to date are at record levels, the Leaving Certificate points needed will depend on the number of places offered and the results of all applicants for each course in August. Up to the initial CAO deadline on Monday, almost 71,200 applications were registered, up 6% from 67,634 at the same time last year.

AONTAS director Berni Brady said Vocational Education Committees should be allowed expand further education courses, for which up to 30,000 applicants were unsuccessful last year, to cope with any knock-on effect of insufficient third-level places.