STUDENTS were given earplugs by university chiefs after being made to sit vital exams in a noisy TENT.
Hundreds of undergraduates studying business at Manchester Metropolitan University expected to take their end-of-year tests - and some finals - in a conference room at the City of Manchester Stadium.
But after a booking blunder, they turned up to find their desks had been set up in a marquee in the stadium car park - alongside roaring traffic on the nearby Alan Turing Way.
Stadium chiefs - at the home of Manchester City FC - could not let them use the indoor conference room because it had already been booked for other events.
Exam officials tried to combat the noise by issuing students with airline-style earplugs and also put in gas heaters, but many sitting the exams are furious about the arrangements. The first day of the exams was earlier this week and they are due to run to May 11. One angry student said: "When we turned up we were told to go to this marquee. We were just appalled. The rain was lashing down.
"Although there were gas heaters inside, it was far too hot for students sitting next to them and far too cold in other places.
"I have to sit all five of my exams in there and plan to appeal if the conditions put me off."
Student John Duffy, said: "It's a joke. We were crammed in and all you could hear was the roof flapping in the wind. During the three-hour exam, I was sweating and tired - so I left early."
Another 19-year-old female student said: "The floor is uneven, so every time an invigilator walked past, my desk wobbled and I had to stop working.
"One day, it was cloudy, so it was dark inside as there is only one central strip of lighting.
Stressful
"It was really windy, so the tent flapped and was really noisy - almost as loud as the traffic."
Louise Howard, 21, said there has also been the added pressure of getting there and added: "It's stressful enough taking exams without having to worry about traffic and parking."
Anna King, 19, added: "It was really cold and the noise levels were terrible and really distracting. I'm really disappointed that we are studying business and our university cannot find suitable premises in Manchester. The city is so big and we were led to believe our important exams would be held in one of the stadium's corporate suites."
Mike Jones, 25, said: "There were too many distractions. There were loads of sirens going, because it's a main road and lots of traffic. We should have been put somewhere quiet so we could concentrate. What do we pay our tuition fees for?"
Luke Beetlestone, 19, said: "It was very noisy. We were offered ear plugs, but lots of my friends are really annoyed as we thought we were in a conference suite.
"There were only a couple of portable toilets as well."
In previous years, students have taken exams in the city centre campus. But rebuilding work at the Aytoun Street hall forced bosses to seek a different site.
They then booked a hall at the City of Manchester Stadium for the three-week exam period and booked coaches to take students to and from the campus. But they said they were told last month that the venue would not be available for the whole exam period.
The exams were switched instead to the marquee, close to busy Alan Turing Way.
University bosses acknowledged it was not ideal, but said it had been approved by the Students' Union and they'd had only a limited number of complaints. An MMU spokesman said: "Although it's a temporary structure, it is used for corporate dinners and is floored and heated. It does allow large numbers of students to take their exams in comfortable and secure surroundings.
"We are monitoring the situation for comfort, warmth, noise, and refreshments.
"So far, the examinations have gone without incident and we have had lots of positive feedback from staff and students."
A spokesman for Manchester City refused to comment, saying it could not discuss the issue due to client confidentiality.
What do you think of the exam conditions? Have your say.
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Andrew Fowler, Manchester (28/04/2007 at 07:37)
ashley, none (28/04/2007 at 13:52)
Vicky McDonnell, Manchester (28/04/2007 at 14:31)
Ian (28/04/2007 at 14:36)
¿ Examinations in a comfortable, warm and well ventilated location;
¿ Examinations at a site with good car parking facilities;
¿ Examinations over a four week period rather than a five/six week period.
Good car parking facilities seems slightly ironic.
ChorltonandtheWheelies, Manchester (28/04/2007 at 14:42)
lbt (28/04/2007 at 18:10)
James McMillan, Manchester City Centre (28/04/2007 at 18:44)
MMU should be fined for what they have done to the studetns this year. The so-called "building works" are so they can turn the exam venue we normally use into a space they rent out to graduates to start their own businesses permanently. This is looking after their own back-pockets not the welfare of the students.
Also the 'uneven floor' is a sprung floor and so it's not about have a wobbly desk it's the fact that the floor doesn't stay still whilst you're sat there. Needless to say it felt like I was sitting my exams on a boat.
Considering aslo the points about noise and distance (seeing as we ARE a city centre campus), the whole process has been shambolic.
The article also doesn't mention that the size of the tent has allowed them to cram more exams into a shorter space, so the exma perios which is normally eight weeks is three. I've had 3/4 exams in one week which made it impossible to revise effectively.
The whole thing is shambolic and I have absolutely no doubt about the coincidence of how short our exam period is now and how MMU are renting out our old exam venue.
This was never just a temporary solution, we've had our exam timetables for months and their is no way the capacity in the Minshull building would allow for those logistics.
Sarah Blessett (28/04/2007 at 18:49)
Anon MMU (28/04/2007 at 19:04)
Ian (28/04/2007 at 19:18)
I've just had 3 exams in 4 days inside that tent with one more to go. Surely we should get at least a day or two between each exam to help prepare. Finishing one exam at 5.30 and having another there at 10 the next day is hardly a day.
MMU is a joke.
keanoisgod, manchestor (28/04/2007 at 20:29)
Also, no one has mentioned that the tent is right next to the traffic lights, so the sound of braking buses and lorries is pretty much constant.
MMU knew all along about the location, just saving money so there overpaid lecturers can get another pay rise.
Another thing, who cares about good car parking facilities, how many students do you know a car.
Victoria Boffey, Manchester (28/04/2007 at 22:06)
Anon MMU (29/04/2007 at 00:34)
northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
mmunion@mmu.ac.uk
MMU Student (29/04/2007 at 11:10)
The comments they have released are not true. They provide coaches to get to 10am exams but do not provide transport to get back, they have put exams on well into the evening in the middle of rush hour, it has never been suggested that they could provide ear plugs. I have made a complaint to the university and it seems as thought they just do not care. While we are all doing exams, practically the whole university is empty, is it not better to use those rooms free of charge than place students in a tent in the worst possible conditions. I am so upset that all the hard work I have but in place is going to waste, the noise is unbearable I personally was unable to gather my thoughts and as a result I fear I may have failed, if this was my own fault I could accept it but I no that if I had bee in a room I could have answered the questions easily.
They said they have had limited complaints but students are afraid they will be penalised also thy do not know who to turn to Please Please Please help us get re test in expectable exam conditions!!!!! If this was your son or daughter would you be happy? I bet the university employees would not be happy if it was there son or daughter but nobody seems to care about us.
Anon MMU (29/04/2007 at 11:24)
mmu student (29/04/2007 at 12:08)
Gee, Manchetser (29/04/2007 at 12:33)
Its a joke and aslo... a rubbish football team.
anon0307, Manchester (29/04/2007 at 12:47)
I was not informed that our exams would be taking place in this tent and from the impression I get from talking to my friends, neither did they. MMU posted the exams to be in the "east executive concourse" of the Man City stadium.
When in the previous locations for exams, yes we had the everyday traffic and sounds outside but I can assure you not to the extent of it sitting in this tent!
I do admitt that in my first exam I was personally offered earplugs, but then watching the examiners, only a few people were offered them, there was no announcement or even a note upon each desk, a lot of people were oblivious to the fact and I don't suppose anyone wants to sit for 3 hours with those in their ears, most likely giving them ear ache having them shoved in your ears for so long!
MMU is a disgrace, it has been all year and this is just the final straw!!!!
kris88 (29/04/2007 at 12:55)
I had my first exam last week and like everyone else simply couldn't get over the bare faced cheek of the university for allowing us to use this "facility" the whole thing has been appalling, everyone¿s comments re the traffic and sirens, car music, people shouting outside, the moving floor, hot conditions, and countless others are correct!
Again how many student have cars? The journey from Fallowfield area isn¿t exactly round the corner, also some student¿s exams finish at 8pm, and this isn't the nicest part of Manchester, I certainly wouldn't want my sister to have to find her own way back at that time!
We should have compensatory marking for these exams as these are the most important exams we will ever have to take, with some careers secured on the results!!!!
Something should and needs to be done, or it will be another example of the students and the future of this country being ripped off!!!!
Ian (29/04/2007 at 13:10)
Anon MMU, none (29/04/2007 at 14:04)
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6605257.stm
Harry, Manchester (29/04/2007 at 14:10)
Also the fact that we didn't know we'd be sitting our exams in a tent until we got to the location meant that we had no way of preventing this.
This has been shambolic from the start.
They picked a location which couldn't possibly be any more inconvenient to get to from majority student residences in Rusholme, Fallowfield, Withington etc.
As for the tent itself;
1)Shaky, the whole desk wobbles when someone walks past.
2)Extremely noisy, you can hear every single piece of traffic that comes past including lorries, buses, as well as blaring sirens from police cars half the time. No one was offered ear plugs in either of the exams I was in.
3)The lighting is awful as it consist of just one strip of lights across the centre of the tent.
4)Temperature wise, in my first exam I was absolutely freezing. If there were heaters, they weren¿t working. In my second exam I was literally sweating. So much for air conditioning. Either way, temperature was not controlled efficiently.
5)Air ventilation was not great with however many students they had crammed into the tent especially on the hotter day. The lack of air and stifling heat made me personally feel extremely drowsy and light- headed.
It's ironic that the people who have organised this are heads of a BUSINESS institution and if this solution is the best they can come up with, then I am extremely worried.
SP, Manchester (29/04/2007 at 14:25)
Anonn-yed (29/04/2007 at 14:31)
able to do this. Even with a way to get to the stadium, directions and the time it took to get there became an issue before the first exam, we ended up arriving an hour early and were sent to a small room with little seating.
When you get into the exam you are informed that all of the four or five clocks tell a different time and that they are going from the clock on the left side of the tent....little help to those on the right. The tables are squashed so tightly together...i am assuming to fit all of the 8 weeks of exams into the 3 weeks available, you darent turn your head in case you are accused of cheating. During the exam there is constant traffic outside, not surprising as the tent is located next to a set of traffic lights on a main road, whilst the university are trying to say they have taken steps to lower the noise level, it doesnt take a genius...or even someone with a business degree, to work out that the material of a tent is not going to block out several hundred cars, buses and emergency service vehicles.
I am coming to the end of four years at university in which i have felt continually let down by a university that seems to have a higher concentration on profit making then education learning. It would have been nice to have to have finished thinking that i have done the best i can and that the university had facilitated this throughout my final exams, instead i am contemplating becoming a vegan because i suddenly understand how a battery chicken feels cooped up and being forced to lay eggs.
To conclude...I really hope the university are proud of its graduates this year, because every person that passes, whether it be with a 3, 2.2, 2.1 or a 1st have earned it, despite of the universities disregard for them.
Simon Love (29/04/2007 at 14:33)
So - something should be done about this as I have heard the reason they are doing it at the stadium is to do with the building work in Mishull House.... BUT!! I heard for a fact from a member of staff that this work is not happening until the end of July!! This would have allowed plenty of time for us to do our exams in normal conditions, not like a load of cattle in a tent!!!