This is not a football matter, but it's yet another PR blunder by the club.

like many i have 4 finals there in the next 2 weeks,,,is there anything realistically we can do? Or is it better just to get our heads down and try get through it,,,bad enough having 2 final exams in 24 hours, but having them in a glorified tent? Any advice anywhere?

I am a final year student at MMU, taking 4 3 hour exams in the tent! I can't believe that the student union have approved these conditions without consulting the students who are taking the exams. The conditions are not ideal for taking exams, it's noisy, it's hot and cold,the tables rock when an examiner walks past and the toilets smell like we are at a music festival. I think it's disgusting that we are expected to work in these conditions, when this could effect my degree results and my future career.

It¿s funny how MMU describe the tent in the car park as ¿a convenient location just outside of the city centre¿ and as providing the following benefits:

¿ 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.

Just be thankful you weren't made to stay and watch a game... you would want blindfolds as well as earplugs. I should know what I'm talking about I'm a season ticket holder - when I'm at the games sitting an exam seems like a more satisfying way to spend an afternoon.

as a parent of a student who is taking final year exams at mmu I am furious about the provision for exams made by the university.My daughter has not been offered ear plugs during her exams,she says the noise is unbearable from traffic and sirens,the uneven floor means you need to stop writing whenever someone moves as the table wobbles so much and ventilation and lighting are inadequate.She had no knowledge about this until she turned up to do her first exam .She has not yet complained because she is too busy revising and does not want to be singled out as a troublemaker and be penalised for doing so .She has worked extremely hard for this degree and I think MMU has treated its students with contempt.MMU have failed to provide adequate provision for final exams and I will be seeking legal advice to determine the rights of all the students involved in this fiasco.

I think I should point out that there is more to this than just a noisy tent.

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.

I am also a final year student at MMU, undergoing exams in the tent. The conditions we are expected to work in are unacceptable. When we were first informed about the exams being at the city stadium we were told coaches would be provided. However this coaching facility is only available for early morning examinations, all other students have to make their way out of town to the stadium. The fact that the exams were being held in a marquee was withheld from students until we arrived at the city stadium. The marquee itself was noisy as it was next to a main road with busy traffic and sirens constantly going off. At no point was i offered ear plugs! Everytime someone walked past my desk i had to stop writing as the uneven floorboards meant the desk shook. I cannot believe the student union let exams be held in these conditions.

I sat my first final year exam on friday (27th april) and was disgusted. The news story suggested that ear pugs were offered to students. I can 100% confirm they were definately not offered at any point of the 3 hour exam. Looking around at other students, they were extremely annoyed at the situation. I was sat on the far left hand side of the tent, myself and other students were constantly distracted by the rattling noisy tent, the constant traffic noise and having to listen to peoples conversations as they walked past. Its disgusting to think that a university with millions of pounds at its disposal as well as countless massive building located all over the city has had to resort to this. Its not our fault the room was double booked so why should we have to sit the most important exams of our lifes, with so much riding on them, in a god damn tent. Once again i can not stress this enough, students were not warned about the situation before hand (about the exams being held in a tent) if we were then maybe we could have prepared ourselves better and WE WERE DEFINATELY NOT offered ear plugs during our exam (which lasted from 2.30 until 5.30) Would you be able to help me further with this situation and put me in touch with someone who can actually listen if not take immediate action as the university wouldnt care less. Over the past four years MMU has been a constant frustration and disappointment and this just rounds off what has been an extremely torrid four years. Something needs to be done and people need to know whats happening, its unforgivable!!!

I actually e-mailed the exams department to ask how the shorter exam period is beneficial. The only real response I got was good luck.

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.

Considering the majority of students live in fallowfield/withington area, it means having to leave home around 2 hours before to get there in sufficient times, and the fact that some students are starting 3 hour exams at 5 or 6 o clock in a not too nice area seems irresponsible
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.

I am in my final year of university and been taking my exams this week. My first one was on Monday. When I turned up I was amazed we had to sit in to a a glorified tent after trekking all the way out to the stadium. It was terrible I could not concentrate due to the high level of noise from the traffic and the odd ambulance going by. Where I was sitting the floor was uneven so that every time someone went past the floor creaked and wobbled. At no point were we offered earplugs. Nor were we informed of the changes. The only coach service was for early morning exams. I have paid my tuition fees and think it is ridiclous that mmu think that this is acceptable for students sitting their life changing exams in these conditions. If there has not been many complaints yet it is because most students are concentrating on trying there best in the circumstances. I expect the flood to happen on the final day where I will be joining them. How the student union could have deemed this as acceptable i really dont understand.

The only way MMU will be punished for this disgrace is by people taking the matter further, otherwise this will just get swept under the carpet. Here are some email addresses of people and organisations that might help, but theyll only take up the story if we bother speaking out. We can still remain annonymous so dont worry about being singled out for "trouble making".

northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk

mmunion@mmu.ac.uk

For final year students this is our last chance to help make a better future for ourselves, we have been dramatically failed by a public body that is meant to aid us. Some have been made job offers on the proviso of a certain grade this is in jeopardy for many.

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.

MMU is a disgrace. The place is run more like a business, they get your money and then your on your own! The BBC rang me just now and are taking the matter further, if we want real action to be made against MMU we must speak up. Tell everyone you know who has been affected by this tent fiasco to not be affraid of speaking out, contact the BBC and or the union.

I am a final year currently doing the most important exams of my life in embarrassing conditions. I can support all of the previous complaints of traffic noise, noise from rattling tent poles, creaking floors and either freezing or boiling temperatures depending where you are seated. Many students have incurred massive debt through tuition fees etc and to be cheated by the university at the final hurdle is really hard to take. I think the student union have been mislead over the venue for exams, and if they fully understood the conditions then they would have certainly not agreed. The source for the university is unbelievably arrogant to state ¿we have had lots of positive feedback from staff and students.¿ Sounds like a case of severe selective hearing. I firmly believe that I have been put at a disadvantage by the university, who regardless how they try and get themselves off the hook are ultimately responsible for this mess. I further argue that the dean of the business school has made his/her position untenable through incompetence in presiding over the exam venue decisions. I can¿t think of any scenario in recent times where a UK university has treated students so poorly, quite how they thought that they would get away with this is a mystery to me. In a nutshell, the Manchester Metropolitan University has directly disadvantaged students taking exams by failing to provide adequate conditions, this arguably makes all the exams taking place void, or at the very least subject to review because of extenuating circumstances. A lawyer would have a field day with them, and I fully anticipate some form of legal action. This is possibly one of the worst cases of a British university failing its students, and I fully await the university¿s arrogant, woefully inadequate response to people¿s criticisms.

MMU will expect many mitigating circumstances forms regarding there end of year exams. In fact every student sitting an exam in the "CAR PARK" should fill a form out in ADVANCE, as i can guarantee you will not perform as you would normally.
Its a joke and aslo... a rubbish football team.

I cannot believe that the location for our "Important end of year exams" is in a tent. The first exam I took this week was a disgrace, it was very windy and it sounded like the tent was not going to stay put. Even though there are heating facilities in there, they do not keep the whole tent warm, my hands were freezing! Not to mention the fact that everytime an examiner walks past, the desks wobble and the floor can not possibly be perfectly even!
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!!!!

Yet another mess at the hand of the University that is meant to have the best interests of our future!!

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!!!!

I am seeking a full refund for course fees.

HERE IS THE NEWS STORY BY THE BBC ON WHAT HAS HAPPENED. HOPE THIS MAKES SOME DIFFERENCE.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6605257.stm

This whole situation is a complete joke. The only reason I've been reluctant to complain is because it would be an absolute waste of my time, because MMU couldn't care less about its undergraduates.

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.

Talk about gross over reaction!! Instead of spending time on this website moaning about the conditions which in all honesty, are not ideal, but aren't horrendous either, maybe we should be doing revision instead?! So many people will be using the fact that our exams are in a marquee as an excuse for poor grades because they haven't put the effort or work in for the rest of the year. I for one have worked extremely hard for the last 4 years and will not let such small problems as a little bit of traffic noise or a wobbly table ruin that for me. I don't revise in exam conditions anyway, and I know many of my friends and colleagues don't either, so let's cut MMU a little slack, considering it was the City stadium's fault for double booking us!! As for the location being unsafe, I find this laughable considering Fallowfield has a higher crime rate! Buses run from sportcity to town on a very regular basis and almost every student on my course has a car! We are all adults here so let's start acting like it. The Dean has even said that the conditions are being taken into consideration when are exams are marked but I want my marks to reflect the hard work and effort I've put in and not be bumped up because a few students have nothing better to do than moan and whine. I won't be requesting my fees back because I'm not ignorant to how much it costs to run a university as big as MMU. Try taking responsibility for your own actions and get off the soapbox!

The conditions are inadequate, upsetting and stressful. I fear I am not the only person that, prior to the issues of the tent, worried about how to get to the stadium itself, i am lucky that i have been able to do car shares with other students, however not everyone is
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.

I agree with all the student comments that I have read so far - the whole situation is beyond ridiclous. Shaking floors, poor lighting (unless you are sat under them - then they are like search lights that personally gave me a headache!) and the windy tent is not even worth mentioning alongside the noise and tepmerature..... DO I NEED TO GO ON???

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!!!