University of Manitoba students are up in arms over the delay in the fall term exam schedule.
Second-year biochemistry student Benzeta Adun said, “as an international student, the ability to return home and spend holidays like Christmas with family is something I cherish deeply.”
The delay in getting the finalized exam schedule meant Adun could not visit family this holiday season due to the expense of air travel. The university does not accept travel as a suitable reason for deferring exams.
“Having at least a tentative schedule to plan with is often the difference between paying $400 or $950 for a flight ticket,” Adun said.
The complete exam schedule listing dates and times has been published online since Nov. 14 according to Jeff Adams, university registrar and executive director of enrolment services. He said that in a typical fall term, the schedule would have been released within the first two weeks of October.
The creation of the exam schedule is a “joint effort” between faculties and the registrar’s office, Adams explained. Faculties are required to let the office know which classes need to have exams scheduled and the office is then responsible for creating the schedule.
Adams said the delay this term was due to delays in exam submissions and technical challenges involving a recent upgrade to the software being used to schedule exams.
At time of publication, exam locations are no longer missing from the online timetable, but student exam schedules are still not available on Aurora accounts.
The exam period will begin Dec. 12 and end Dec. 22. Exam dates, lengths, times and locations can be found on the final exam schedule page of the University of Manitoba website.
“I realize that this was an inconvenience for students,” Adams said, noting that the office tries to get information to students in a timely manner.
Adams said that the registrar’s office is committed to “reviewing our processes and systems just to do everything we can to prevent a delay like this happening in the future.”
