HAS is a disgrace

higuy · Black Bloc

Housing and Accomodation Services are an absolute travesty. Their incompetence this year knows no bounds. Firstly we had the fiasco of first year students being put in hotels during the freshers week. The situation those students were in was unacceptable, to be put in such a position only to be split from the first friends they made at university is terrible. I genuienly felt sorry for them.

Then you have Chamberlain Hall! Not only was the hall sub-standard to say the least last year, the university have put students in there only to tell them that they will be evicted before Christmas. Where will they go? What with a general accomodation shortage with the closure of Mason most will go into private accomodation in Selly. Was that the way they wanted to spend their first year? I know I certainly enjoyed my time in halls.

HAS has been an absolute disgrace. I feel those students deserve compensation however knowing the university this is nothing but a nice fantasy. My sympathy goes out to those students. We now look to leadership from our exec officers to look after the interests of those students.

Oktober · Black Bloc

well to be honest houses with all included bills for the price of halls would be quite a nice deal, however I expect they are miles away from campus and probably shit, i doubt HAS will be a good landlord, it was hard enough getting them to fix our boiler in maple skank, let alone a house in selly oak. Plus people will likly have to get thier parents to come and help them move thier stuff, which could be from the other side of the country. They ought to help students move but I doubt they will. HAS has always been shit I remember mason was shit but we all knew it would be shit and knew that we would be kicked out at easter. HAS told people that all rooms had network points and that there were ovens in eden. We all knew mason was better than chamberpot, why they chose to demolish one but leave the other exactly as it is is just ridiculous chamberlain was shitter than mason anyway, they must have known how shit it was, they can't demolish the crap hole so they should have refubished it earlier. They take thier time with everything, I mean why is Mason still standing? Why did we get kicked out at easter yet they didn't start demolition until well into summer? They did do a load of major work in chamberlin last year, but to refurbish the old dining halls for conferances, they don't really give a shit about students, they keep all the ensuite halls in nice conditions for conferances, but they just leave the others shit, they don't fix stuff that breaks unless you go and complain and threaten them loads, and the prices are a total rip off. I have heard that uni of brum are the most expensive halls outside of London and its quite believable, I payed almost twice as much for accomodation here as I did in Manchester, when manchester had better halls, cleaners that actually cleaned and was a city centre location.

Teapotboy · Black Bloc

JulienP · Black Bloc

The halls are overpriced, always have been, i actually got my house with bills included for 12 months in my second year for roughly the same price as I was paying at Hunter Court in my first year for 9 months. Granted Hunter Court wasn't too bad, but it did show it's age on the inside, especially in the ground floor flats. Attempting to close down the bar at the QHC was also stupid, but it was part of the centralising everything on the Vale, specifically Shackleton. This fiasco, which I knew nothing about, having not seen articles on the bugs website Redbrick or the , just proves my point. HAS are greedy, arrogant and with no regards for student care, added to which they are grossly incompetent, about as useful as a chocolate teapot! I hope someone has the balls to take them on!
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SimonM · Black Bloc

A blog has been set up at http://universityofbirmingham.wordpress.com/ to keep students living in Eden Tower and their parents updated on what's going on, if you're interested.

The whole Chamberlain situation is a total fiasco and reflects very badly indeed on HAS - but at least parts of it can be blamed on the crumbling old tower that the current HAS team inherited being in an even worse state than they realised. I think the even more disgraceful thing is the meal plan, which is a relatively new initiative. I'm so annoyed that I've set up a new thread here:
http://www.createphpbb.com/radish/viewtopic.php?t=704&mforum=radish

Sazzle · Black Bloc

I cant see how the university can wait until the day before freshers to put a fire inspection in place? when they had the whole summer to organise a date and to prepare for the change. Such fire regulations which they specify as one of the key reasons for moving people out of Chamberlain Hall (Eden Wing) have been on the cards for ages and surely the University should have been prepared for this?

The one thing that gets me is that the students have no means of gettin compensation since there is a clause in their contract that specifies that the University can move them from the premises if they deem it right. Most students are unaware of the fact the Uni is still screwing them over with the expensive accommodation that they will be offering.... they have offered to exchange the accommodation at Chamberlain for a) the 30 (female only) spots in halls that are with people they dont know and have their own friendship groups, b) in Selly Oak with a meal plan on campus (not forgetting that this includes them walking in and out of campus several times a day for food services that are hardly worth it, and also that the average cost of housing in Selly is around 50 a week compared to the extortionate fee the Uni have charged for the Vale accommodation without the priviledges of living on the Vale) or c) find your own accommodation - which I must confess is by far the best offer.... for the amount they would refund you out of Chambo tehre is enough to find a luxury Selly Oak house and there are STILL plenty flying around with no emcumberances for having to trek for your food!!!!!!

The university seems more concerned with maintaining its profits than for the welfare of its students and failed to keep any of the executive or any of its students informed until the last possible moment. How can we trust such a body when it remains clear that their primary concern rests with its money when clearly the position should be to help these Freshers through this difficult time - being separated from their friends in the 1st term and having to start again could cause a great inconvenience and possible cripple their experience at University. And yet the University STILL thought it to be the right option to put to the students

I for one am disgraced and will be supporting the Freshers through the Student Advice and Mentor Scheme to assist tjem in this transistional period. This is a ridiculous position to put new students in and will strain their relationships with everything they ahve associated themselves with since day 1 and also with the University. How does the University think they can still treat their students with such disrespect? This move by them has certaintly made me reassess my thoughts about the University and I will endeavour to change things to make sure this cannot happen to any future students.

Sarah

hannoir · Black Bloc

Well said, Sarah. I was under the impression that students moving to Selly Oak could opt out of the meal plan if they wanted to.
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Teapotboy · Black Bloc

To look at it from another point of view...

In Germany (where I am now) there are almost never canteens in schools. I said I thought this was unfair on the children to one of my colleague's husbands. His reply was, "They can bring their own lunches to school. A school is not a restaurant. School is for learning"

Similarly, should the university be concerned about being an excellent provider of accomodation (particularly in a city with more rented properties than potential tenants)? Surely it is a place of education, this is its focus and commercial services should quite righltly support this.

It's the same as the people who moan about the price of beer in Joe's - it's a union not a pub, the pub pays for the representation and support, it does not exist for its own sake.

Just a thought...

JulienP · Black Bloc

gabs · Black Bloc

Nice pic Nun!

Would work great as a poster next Open Day if people still feel the quality of catering and accomodation on the Vale warrants it
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Teapotboy · Black Bloc

Don't band around legalese like "duty of care" the uni has no obligation to provide accomodation, students are under no obligation to accept it.

Dear Prudence · Black Bloc

It's pretty interesting that a forum full of people who are dedicated to helping their starving, exploited, bloody-fingered brothers and sisters around the world, most of whom survive on less than $2 a day, are also the first ones to whinge on and on about the oh so TERRIBLE situation of the poor little rich kiddies in Edgbaston.
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PeterM · Street Demonstrator

NunOnTheRun · Meeting Facilitator