UKC

Some while ago (?June) a poster - I think Sealwife - described her daughter being at risk of being dismissed from her nursing course because of failure to fill in some relatively trivial paperwork correctly.  The best offer from the Uni was an appeal hearing over the summer.

As someone with a fairly close interest in supply and demand of clinical staff, I'd be very interested to know if there was an outcome that I missed (being something of a patchy visitor)?

In reply to Moacs:

Yep, it was my daughter.  She finished all the academic stuff she had to do then walked away.  

She was so sickened by the way she and some of the other students were treated she didn’t pursue the appeal, although she did leave it in the hands of the student union, so it’s possible they might be pursuing some sort of group action as she was far from the only one affected.  

 Apparently the new second year students have just been told this year will also be all online lectures as well.  No face to face learning until their third (final) year..  They are not impressed.

No wonder they have one in four students not completing the course.  Of the three who went from our island, one left in the first couple of months because of the isolated nature of learning/homesick etc and the other was booted for the same reason as my daughter - non completion of one small piece of paperwork (laundry procedures I think in his case).

She is currently working in a nightclub, considering her options and gaining masses of experience dealing with pissed up obstreperous people, drugged people, blocked loos, injured people, girls who have had their drinks spiked and apparently, yesterday, they had a phantom shitter who curled one out on the toilet floor.  

Long term she has no plans as yet but she does not wish to return to RGU.

Thank you for asking. 

In reply to Sealwife:

That is awful to hear, thankyou for the update but I'm shocked at the outcome.

In reply to Sealwife:

I'm so sorry to hear that.  Thanks for sharing, and the very best wishes to your daughter.  Life has a way of mending itself.

In reply to Sealwife:

That should set her up perfectly to go back in to ED nursing, sounds like a typical Friday night (including the phantom curler). 
 

but I’m really sorry to hear how badly she has been treated. Alas the NHS has a particular skill at not looking after their employees or actually training them to do the job they need to do.

b 
 

In reply to ben b:

This sad tale is nothing to do with the NHS... it's shoddy treatment from a University that will have loads of marketing marerial acclaiming the quality of its work with students.

In reply to Offwidth:

Any university that has not returned to face to face teaching at this point shows a lack of understanding of education, despite all the early enthusiasm that this could be the way forward, we have learnt, that peer to peer support and learning, engagement between teacher and student, and the fun of university is when students attend. If I have remembered the course and university correctly the NSS has a score of 45% for 'The course is well organised and running smoothly' and 48% for 'Any changes in the course or teaching have been communicated effectively' and 18% left after 1 year. The first 2 I would say are red flags.

I am so sad for anyone who goes to university and then leaves not because of the subject, but due to isolation or unfair treatment. My niece stopped at Christmas 2021 after 11 weeks of being stuck in her room. It was so good to drop her off this Friday at a new institution with the place thronging with people and the knowledge that she is in class every day.

In reply to Sealwife:

Really sorry to hear that, and best wishes to your daughter.

In reply to Sealwife:

So sorry to hear this. Best wishes to you and your daughter. Still not back to face-to-face? We've been back for a full year..... something going on here. The NSS is a very blunt tool, but those numbers also suggest a deeper underlying issue.

In reply to SouthernSteve:

Totally agree.  Especially something as practical as nursing.  It’s hard to see how that can be taught even adequately, let alone effectively, in a remote manner.  

The discrepancy between what was advertised in the prospectus and what was offered was pointed out when we made our initial appeal but was dismissed abruptly by saying they had the right to change the format at any point and basically there was eff all we could do about it.  They held all the cards, we held none.  

All in all the experience has been hugely disappointing.

In reply to Offwidth:

Assuming RGU is Robert Gordon

"We want you to make the most of your time studying with us, however or wherever you study. Studying here is about the atmosphere and feeling like you are part of the RGU community."

Sounds lovely, doesn't it...

In reply to Sealwife:

Sounds like there is a need for a “tripadvisor type site” for uni courses. Given that students need to pay for their tertiary education then it’s reasonable to expect to be able to rank the good from the bad and identify the utterly shite. Let the market decide and all that!

In reply to SFM:

There are various surveys, the student satisfaction survey comes to mind,  the good university guide, the student room etc. There is information out there which there really needs to be given that students are now 'customers'. 

In reply to Offwidth:

It sounds utterly shit. RGU is the only university I am aware of that advertises for "lecturers" via Public Contract Scotland, the public tendering portal, on a course by course basis. It's hard to imagine a worse approach to getting good staff and teaching.

In reply to SFM:

Note RGU is Scotland, so (home) students aren't paying fees.

In reply to Sealwife:

I would wonder whether their accreditation actually lets them teach remotely still. The clinical course I have some involvement in (not nursing and not in Scotland so things may be different) is only accredited for face to face teaching. They were given special dispensation during covid to change to remote teaching but were given clear instruction some time ago that they needed to return to face to face or lose their accreditation. I don’t know what how nursing training is regulated but I would have thought there were similar processes in place.

In reply to MG: Good point, and that does temper the debate when you aren’t directly paying. 

In reply to Siward:

So does it take the form of a Glassdoor type feedback site or it more scattered and up to the “customer” to research? 
I guess the main point is how much institutions pay attention to these things or perhaps better said if they perceive any negative impact upon their ability to recruit new students and act on it.

In reply to SFM:

There are various external ratings sites alongside the official national student survey yet currently students are conflicted... bad ratings for their course could affect employability. I think the ombudsman system needs beefing up so that really bad treatment internally in the Uni leads to bigger financial penalties.

In reply to Sealwife:

This is just appalling but doesn't altogether surprise me. The nursing profession, not just the NHS, seems have an inability to retain staff. It seems to operate on the assumption that another fully trained and experienced person will be along in a minute. I've seen so many young and talented nurses drift out of the profession.

I hope your daughter finds a way to use the skills she has learnt in healthcare in some other constructive line of work.

In reply to MG:

I take your point, but the tax payer is paying, and RGU should be much more aware, and responsible unto their students.

In reply to veteye:

Oh absolutely, I was just being pedantic really.

In reply to SFM:

Well, Tripadvisor itself has reviews for universities, including the one in question: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.rgu.ac.uk

In reply to captain paranoia:

Robert Gordon University is the institution which awarded Donald Trump an honorary degree, at the height of the controversy regarding the Menie Estate golf course development. That tells you all you need to know about the attitudes of its management.

In reply to Nigel Coe:

The one supposed reviewer cannot even spell beautiful, nor give a capital for "I". How they got an MSc is troubling. Maybe a sign of the poor standards?

In reply to Sealwife:

" yesterday, they had a phantom shitter who curled one out on the toilet floor. "

Sadly this is far from an isolated incident.

At a pub I worked in someone took a dump in a beer glass and spray painted it silver before leaving it on the floor in the toilets.

In reply to gethin_allen:

That was probably Damien Hirst. You should have kept the turd: it'd now be worth millions.