Sheffield Hallam is consistently letting students down and it just isn’t good enough

According to their website, Sheffield Hallam are committed to doing all they can to support the student and staff community. So, why do we as students feel so let down and abandoned?

We have missed out on months of teaching due to strikes and coronavirus closures, just to be met with a no safety net policy, no access to vital resources, and a complete lack of university communication – all whilst paying £9,250 for the privilege. It is simply not good enough.

The disappointment began when Hallam claimed to be joining universities nationwide by implementing a no detriment policy to ensure student grades were protected against any lockdown disruptions.

However, the confusing policy actually meant no safety net was introduced at all, giving struggling students false hope and no support from their university.

SHSU campaign for a proper safety net policy.

Not only this, but the lack of communication from Sheffield Hallam is laughable with the last official communication from the university being two months ago, on the 27th March. In the email from Vice-Chancellor Chris Husbands, the university admits to knowing that “anxiety levels are very high” – so then why is this the last time we heard from them?

Students have been taking to the confessions page “Heard at Hallam” to express how their university has consistently shown how much they do not care about their students and how any small attempt at caring is merely to ensure that they still receive our money.

This student did not hold back

Ellie, a first-year journalism student, told The Tab Sheffield: “We’ve been completely abandoned. Our online teaching was shite with no live zoom classes and just a bloody powerpoint.”

She is not alone in feeling this way, and one anonymous student posting to “Heard at Hallam” is even planning on transferring universities due to the lack of support.

The situation has been described as “utter bollocks”

A finance master’s student told us: “Lecturers are doing the bare minimum, yet still expect us to pass modules that we haven’t even been taught.”

With the majority of students clearly outraged at the way we are being treated and our mental health declining as a result, Sheffield Hallam has merely told us to look at depressive memes. I really wish I was joking.

The emotional and mental turmoil that Sheffield Hallam has put us through has been relentless for months and with delayed information on future teaching plans, how much longer will this last?

In what can only be described as a dystopian reality, our mental health is suffering as a direct result of our university and they just don’t care. When will Hallam step up and let their students know that our wellbeing comes before their profit?

Sheffield Hallam University said: “We understand and recognise the impact that COVID-19 is having on our University community, therefore we are committed to ensuring there is no detriment to our students’ learning, how they are assessed, and their results, as a result of restrictions arising from COVID-19.

“Our approach is designed to support all of our students to continue their learning and to achieve meaningful qualifications. Therefore, we have introduced a range of measures to support students to ensure that no one is disadvantaged.

“For example, our approach to assessments will see previous grades taken into account, so marks can be increased if they are lower than expected or out of line with previous results. We have also taken the decision to allow all Foundation Year and first-year undergraduates to progress to the next level of their studies, where this is possible.

“More information on this and other measures can be found on our advice page at shu.ac.uk/coronavirus. We would urge any student with concerns to contact us through their course leader or our dedicated help centre on 0114 225 4555 or [email protected].”

Featured image credit: PL Chadwick labelled for reuse under the Creative Commons License. Edits made by The Tab Sheffield, for original image see here.