Cumbria university students claim they have been let down by lack of cash
Last updated at 13:34, Monday, 08 February 2010
Furious students from the University of Cumbria say they have been let down by a lack of investment in new facilities.
Plans to regenerate the city’s Viaduct Estate with a large £70m flagship university campus – including a theatre and arts centre for the city – have been put on hold because of financial problems.
That leaves students coming to Carlisle facing swingeing cuts to the university’s ambitious plans, including the dropping of some courses including law.
Final year journalism student Stephen Graham, 29, of Chatsworth Square in the city centre, said: “I started at the university in the first intake when it first formed, and over the three years the quality has degraded and I am glad to be leaving it now.
“Things like Brampton Road library closing have made it harder to study for my dissertation. It’s all very disappointing for students in Cumbria as they are going to have to travel away to go to university. It’s bad for the area.
“I feel really sorry for the next generation of students coming here. If I was going to stay on after I finish and do a Masters, I wouldn’t do it at the University of Cumbria. If it carries on the way it is, it’s going to implode.”
Steven Ramshay, of Kingstown Road, Carlisle is in his first year at the university, studying journalism. He said: “We were promised the library in Brampton Road, and we’ve been disappointed. I have been let down.
“It has turned out nearly the complete opposite of what I expected when I came to university. My sixth form college is better. The facilities available are very mediocre for a university.”
Recent MA graduate Kevin Murphy added: “They are reducing the facilities tremendously. Students will have signed up 12 months ago being promised a library and all these facilities, and now they are just reducing them.
“The library was a key part of the university as that’s where most of the research goes on.”
The Students’ Union launched a campaign last autumn to save the library when university bosses relocated it to Fusehill Street following a boost in student recruitment at the Brampton Road site.
Other students have expressed their anger at the university’s proposal to cut the law course next year, prompting a group of students to start a Facebook campaign to save the course. A plea to students reads: “The powers-that-be are proposing to axe the law degree at University of Cumbria after only two intakes of students.
“Why can’t we have a local university with prestigious degree courses like law in Carlisle? Why must we focus purely on agriculture, nursing or teaching? Why not have a wide range of courses to ensure local firms employ local people?”
Lecturers at the university’s Ambleside campus, which is set to be mothballed as a £2m cost-cutting measure, have refused to rule out strike action over the plans.
South Lakes MP Tim Farron, who is fighting to keep the Ambleside campus open amid the budget cuts, described a decision to allow outdoor studies students to continue using Ambleside as ‘a partial victory’.
However, he added: “I’m devastated for teacher training students who are still being asked to move, and for dozens of hard-working and long-suffering members of staff who may now face redundancy. Many who have given their life to the campus and to its generations of students face redundancy and an uncertain future.”
First published at 11:25, Monday, 08 February 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
yeah i agree martin it is more aimed towards teaching and nursing, but they're the popular courses. And the university was trying to get more people into Cumbria but those coming to study here away from home are unlikely to stay here when their course finishes, therefore the amount of courses of that kind the university offers cant be blamed for the lack of jobs. If the uni doesnt offer teaching or nursing courses its not going to stop people from cumbria doing it, there just going to go away, therefore when they come back the job situation will be exactly the same and people are leaving, rather than coming to cumbria.
View all 19 comments on this article
Have your say
I am rather puzzled by the comments made by some of the university management,Reference to five sites & five libraries? did they not know how many sites they were taking on?& surely reference books required in the art dept in Carlisle would be of little use to the agricultural dept at Penrith or visa versa, & similar for other campuses? but even if this was a problem, put the library on line!! it would not have cost the taxpayer £20million.Surely someone must have noticed that the finances were out of control after the first few months? A golden opportunity for Cumbria seemingly missed.
Posted by michael owen P.C. U.K.I.P. on 15 February 2010 at 16:35