TAIF, 8 April 2006 — A number of Taif University students are complaining about the overall situation at their school, the daily Al-Nadwa reported yesterday. Furthermore, they say that recent decisions made by university officials are exacerbating the problem by not addressing students’ concerns. The students interviewed for the story did not want to provide their real names for fear of reprisals.
Hani, from the Islamic Studies Department, complained of lax treatment of student records. He says that the school has failed in some cases to record the results of courses taken by the students, rendering their academic efforts useless for the sake of earning credits for a degree.
“The administration is confused and we become the victims for this confusion,” said Hani. “And if we contest (a missing grade on the record), we face expulsion.”
Also, according to students, recent changes to coursework has been applied retroactively, meaning that in some cases students that took some courses in order to earn credits toward a degree have discovered that these classes no longer count.
“What is the benefit from canceling a subject from the curriculum and replace it with something else after the student had passed the subject,” said Abdullah, pointing out that any canceled courses that were required for specific degrees should not be forced on students that have already taken the courses. “The decision to cancel some of the subjects from the curriculum delayed many students from graduation. This will hurt other students financially because some students are living 50 km away from the university and they barely cover their transportation costs.”
Sami F. also criticized recent changes to the layout of the campus, which places a new entrance further away from the car-park area.
“The university changed the entrance of the university from the main entrance to a side entrance,” he said. “This caused a lot of problems because students will have to walk for long distances, and that’s not to mention the parking problem. Because colleges are far away inside the university we have to walk for a long distance and this causes us to arrive late. It causes another problem because students that arrive late will not be allowed to enter the class.”
Basem Ali said that they are facing constant threats from teachers that they would not pass the test just because they got late to classrooms.
“One time I forgot to turn off my mobile phone and it rang in the classroom. Immediately the teacher told me in front of classroom that I would fail the class,” said Ali. “I know that teachers in the elementary schools stopped speaking to students like this and I wonder why they speak to us in this language anyway.”
