Wednesday afternoons will remain free!
Friday 17-02-2017 - 15:05
Update on Keep Wednesday Afternoons Free policy
At Assembly last Thursday a motion was passed by student representatives in support of ensuring that Wednesday afternoons remain free for taught students, to enable participation in the wide range of extracurricular opportunities on offer at Durham. This is as a result of concerns that the University’s strategy and plans for expansion may put pressure on timetabling; threatening this time set aside for student activities.
Since then Lisa (Academic Affairs Officer) and I have spoken to key staff within the University including the PVC Education, PVC Colleges and Student Experience, and the Director of Experience Durham, to gain confirmation that Wednesday afternoons will remain free of core academic timetabling, as an integral part of the wider student experience. The responses have been very positive; assuring us that the University recognise the importance of free Wednesday afternoons, and that this time of the week will remain reserved for non-academic commitments.
Prof Alan Houston, PVC Education, told us: “I can confirm that there has been no discussion of changes to the Wednesday afternoon tradition of not scheduling academic events after 1:00 p.m. Given the importance of the wider student experience to Durham, it’s hard to imagine doing so. In any case, please rest assured that you and your peers will be involved if it ever does surface.
So any local conversations are based on rumour, and have no basis in fact.”
If any students have concerns that this is not being followed by individual departments please feel free to get in contact with me via dsu.activities@durham.ac.uk. You can also find the assembly papers here.
