The late nineties. Armed with a floppy disc (a forerunner of the USB), I walk to the university library – located in what is now the Student Services Centre on Ezelsmarkt. In a small room, there are thirty or so computers on individual desks. Any free PCs? Then you can sign in and sit down. Insert the disc and your email’s ready. I’m delighted to discover that I have received two whole emails. I can’t remember who from (thesis supervisor?) or what about (version three of chapter two of my thesis?), but the communication with students is incredibly simple and comprehensible. Everything, from grades, to deadlines, to exam dates, can be found on sheets of white A4 hung on a wall of the Faculty of Arts and Social Studies, listed by student number. The Education Office also has a desk dedicated to answering any questions you might have, or you simply track down a lecturer if you run into any problems. The internet is still in its infancy – there’s a practical on ‘how to surf the world wide web’ using Yahoo and Alta Vista. There is no Canvas, no social media, no WhatsApp.
Fellow editor Deborah Blekkenhorst has spent the last year looking into the hydra of student communication. After the latest in a long line of students complaining during a faculty council meeting – I believe it was someone from Arts and Social Sciences who had missed a tuition fee reminder in amongst the barrage of emails and was now in trouble – we decided it was time to dedicate an article to the struggles students face when it comes to communication from UM. Not enough structure in newsletters? Too many event announcements? Deborah started her search with the faculty councils. Unfortunately, there was little response from the student members (we suspect they didn’t see our emails). She then contacted the marketing and communication departments, spoke to an external project leader who had recruited UM for a clever plan and a university council member who had expressed frustration about the issue repeatedly, and questioned a sample of students.
It took months (in between all her other work, of course) to gather all the facts. Not least because some members of staff simply failed to email her back – maybe they, too, are inundated with emails? For a long time, it was also rather vague what the administration’s plans were. Now it’s finally done, the article is in the paper. “I never, ever want to write about this again!” she said during last Monday’s editorial meeting. Talk about ‘drowning in information’.
Meanwhile, there is another hydra waiting in the wings: bureaucracy. Three editors started working on that a year ago, but for now, the first results are gathering dust in a drawer somewhere. Too much, too vague. We’ll get back to you. Someday.
The editor-in-chief gives a look behind the scenes at the editorial office.