The University of Lincoln has been severely criticized by students in the last few weeks. After announcing that they would reserve up to 700 rooms in approved student accommodation, “The Pavilions” students feel left out in the cold by their University.
Chris Goss, a second year Journalism student said: “I live at the Pavilions now, and I would have liked to continue living there for my third year. But this is as of now not possible because the University has reserved all the rooms for first year students.
Chris said he feels its “unfair” to second and third students who would like the security of a room as well. It feels like the University has betrayed us”.
Chris added that the University should have announced earlier that they would be “reserving” the rooms for first years, he said: “I would have had more of a chance to find a room in time if the University told me that they would book out Pavilions.
Chris is not the only student desperately searching for a room for the next school year. Students reacted to the announcement by starting the facebook page: ‘Pavs Stole My Home’.
The creator of the page, calling themselves “Pavs sold my home” on facebook started the page with the following statement: “Pavs sold all the d**n rooms without a single warning to their loyal customers; awful! Here’s a page to yuck it up and spread the word about alternative arrangements.
Already a few opportunities inside. Spread the word to all those forgotten, tossed aside and affected by Pavs’ big, dumb f*** up.
The University has responded to the outrage by saying: “It is, unfortunately, impossible for every student to be accommodated in these developments, as the University’s full-time higher education population in Lincoln is more than twice this number at around 8,100”.
The University explained their reasoning and said that: “In common with the majority of universities in the UK, the University of Lincoln seeks to prioritise the allocation of student accommodation to new entrant students. The expected number of new students on the Brayford campus from September 2011 is several hundred higher than was the case in 2010.”
Lenora Caton a third year Business and Marketing student who lived in Pavilions in her first year said: “I think it’s ridiculous that Pavilions is booked out, if I was not graduating this year I would be upset as well. What about the students who want to have a room for themselves? Pavilions is almost the only option for them”.
The University said that in the future they would review its student accommodation strategy to ensure that the availability of high quality student accommodation continues to be in line with our ambitious plans.”
THE Student Union Housing Fayre returned on Wednesday, as first and second year students turn their attention towards accommodation for next year.
The fayre gives students the chance to get information on prospective accommodation, to better inform their choice of where to stay for the year ahead.
Over 50 parties took the opportunity to display at the fayre, with properties ranging from two bed houses let by independent landlords to university affiliated halls.
Jonathan Holmes, an SU Representative, said: “Its a great opportunity for students to easily find acredited accomodation from trusted providers.”
The aim of the scheme is to provide a set of standards for landlords to ensure that they give students ‘safe, secure and well managed housing.’
‘ANYONE and everyone is welcome, so come along and laugh so hard you’ll get abs’, was the invitation, as Tower Bar played host to Lincoln University’s Comedy Society.
Students and locals came to see a night of stand-up comedy, performed by amateur comedians. The event consisted of eight acts, each performing their own routine.
Andrew Kingdom, who was the fifth performer on said: “It was great, we all had a good time, some of the guys, have been working on this since last year. It was brilliant!”
The event was advertised on Facebook, where it is described as displaying ‘elite talent from inside the society itself.’
The general consensus is that the show was a success, and a big step for the society.
THE University of Lincoln’s Faculty of Business and Law has moved into a spectacular new building.
Staff and students have moved to a new home in a stunning £6m conversion of the former Lincolnshire Echo newspaper offices on the edge of the University’s main Brayford Pool Campus.
Features include a 250-seat lecture theatre, a 60-seat Harvard style lecture theatre, mock courtroom, language and IT lab and innovative learning lounges, designed to encourage interaction between undergraduates, postgraduates and staff.
The building also includes the Lincolnshire Leadership and Management Centre.
Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law, Professor David Head, said: “This superb building represents the University’s commitment to providing our students with the latest in teaching and learning facilities and our academic staff with enhanced opportunities for collaborative working and research.”
The official opening ceremony of the new Faculty building took place on Monday, January 24 where a plaque was unveiled, officially naming it the David Chiddick Building in honour of Lincoln’s former Vice Chancellor.
Professor Chiddick, who retired in autumn 2009 after nine years at Lincoln, was the special guest.
He said: “I simply cannot express adequately the enormous privilege and honour it is to have the latest building of the University of Lincoln named after me.
“As a retired Vice Chancellor, who is still passionate about the University, it is enormously satisfying to see it in good hands and continuing to make tremendous progress on so many fronts under the leadership of Professor Mary Stuart.”
