Queens are Ruining the University Experience!

goose2002

Ok, first post here and I'm interested in getting other Queens Uni people's, (past and present) opinion on where the university is heading and is it heading in the right direction.

I was in Queens for the past 4 years and just graduated there last summer. I still live in the Queens area and have many friends still in the Uni. I loved the whole 4 years I spent in the Uni and I still feel quite attached to it as alumni. However since I started in 2004, I've noticed what I see as a decline in the Whole University experience offered by Queen's, to the point that I'm not sure if I could really recommend it anymore to anybody trying to decide where to go. The way I see it going to Uni is a lot more then just the academic side of things, but also about the whole experience of meeting people and enjoying the all to short time there. To me Queens seems to have forgotten about that completely and made decisions that have more to do with money and business then the students.

The first problem I've noticed is Queens Elms. I loved my first year spent there and would gladly go back and do it all again if I could. A one of the last people to live in catered accommodation in the towerblocks that others thought were awful, it was the best way to meet people. 10 floors of 14 rooms and each floor accessible along with eating with everybody from your building twice a day. Before long everybody got to know each other and it really added to the first year.
Today, Elms has turned into a sort of secure prison in some ways. All the new blocks, although new and modern seem very restrictive with security doors on each floor. This wouldn't bee too bad if it wasn't for the security guards checking everybodies ID at the gate after 10. I know there is a need for security, especially in recent weeks around the Uni area, but to me there has to be a limit. Elms has also shot up in cost dramatically in the last few years. In 2004 it was £67 a week, including 2 meals a day!

The next thing is the lack University run cafes. A few years ago the Student Union had two, subsidised Cafe's, Cloisters and the Beechrooms. Back in the day you could get a lunch for around £2 in the Union upstairs and the Beechrooms used to be full. Even then we were missing the Cafe in the ground floor of the Ashby which had closed the year before, a sign of what was to come. With the refurbishment of the Union, the Beechrooms and Cloisters were gone, and outside businesses such as Clements were in. With these new companies, new prices appeared might aswell have been in any high street Cafe. All Queen's have to worry about is the rent.

Last on the list here, is the good old PEC. £50 for a years membership when I started and up to £100 after the excellent revamp which was still good value and well worth the cost. Skip to 2008 and it is now £222, yes, £222. Thats £172 of an increase in 4 years. To me Queens has really messed up here. With all the talk of Queens trying to improve sport in the Uni, with all talk of fighting obesity and healthy living, Queens has made the student gym too expensive for a majority of its students. And whats worse, they appear to just refuse to discuss the matter. At a meeting of Uni clubs and societies, the Uni rep just stated that the meeting was not a forum for discussing the price increases gym. I've heard people talking about how it's almost as if they are trying to turn it into a private gym, and to be honest, it seems like that to me too. How long before the PEC is a thing of the past? Just another past amenity of Queens that was just sold on.

So these are some of the reasons which I feel are making me begin to think about not recommending Queens Uni to people looking into colleges. How can I recommend a University to someone that I feel is not putting its students first anymore. And whats worse, after they make these decisions, they seem to be deaf, or maybe just ignore the objections of their students which are paying ever increasing amounts for what is diminishing experience at what could be a great University.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Yeah! Ban the ... from Uni

pow wow

If you think QUB is bad try 3 yrs at UU!

I could address all your issues but sure you're entitled to your own opinion. All I would say is that increased security measures are there for the protection and safety of the students, not just to p!ss on your party parade.

regob

ellscurr wrote: »

If you think QUB is bad try 3 yrs at UU!

I could address all your issues but sure you're entitled to your own opinion. All I would say is that increased security measures are there for the protection and safety of the students, not just to p!ss on your party parade.

first of all you leave us for the other side, and then you start to slag us off dissappointed. sorry only joking

jimmy-jazz

the're all the same no matter where you go. just the way things are these days. $$$$$$$$$. as university goes queens is one of the most enjoyable, friendly, fun places to go.........and this comin from someone who dropped out.

regob

jimmy-jazz wrote: »

the're all the same no matter where you go. just the way things are these days. $$$$$$$$$. as university goes queens is one of the most enjoyable, friendly, fun places to go.........and this comin from someone who dropped out.

like its impossible for you to make that statment since you havent been to every uni.

jimmy-jazz

regob wrote: »

like its impossible for you to make that statment since you havent been to every uni.

oooh......aren't you sharp. i obviously have not been to everyone, but a few. universities are businesses, simple as. like every business, it's all about profit. they don't give a **** about the students. but people here won't be happy until they've convinced themselves, that queen's is an exception. so i'll leave you to it. good day

goose2002

jimmy-jazz wrote:

oooh......aren't you sharp. i obviously have not been to everyone, but a few. universities are businesses, simple as. like every business, it's all about profit. they don't give a **** about the students. but people here won't be happy until they've convinced themselves, that queen's is an exception. so i'll leave you to it. good day

I understand this and realise that this is just life I suppose. But as a business I feel like they should come under scrutiny from their customers. And as a past customer I just have to say its sad that where I would have recommended QUB to anybody trying to decide where to go to college in the past, I now can't quite give it the same recommendation. Its just too hard to see where it's taking it's "business" to in the future. Judging by the actions they have taken recently in my opinion future students are going to find it increasingly expensive with less resources.