2009-01-20 00:51:07

My prolonged silence, caused by certain pre-New Year family troubles, was made even worse by exam session. In case I haven’t mentioned it, I’m currently studying for a master’s degree at the Classical Private University (Zaporizhzhia, formerly the “municipal university”), in the Public Administration program. Quite a shady operation, I must say. Not only have they failed to send the enrollment notice on time for the second session in a row — they change the schedule almost every day, and on top of that the schedule itself is posted in one building while classes keep moving around another. They forgot to notify a freelance lecturer (!) about our sessions, so two classes are being pushed from Tuesday’s 4th–5th periods to Friday’s 8th–9th. The biggest joke — or rather, the most infuriating thing — is the term paper situation. At the orientation session we were told that a term paper had to be submitted before the May session. Naturally, I didn’t think to rush or even start, especially since studying was the last thing on my mind. Then, when we arrived for this session, we found out that: a) the head of our department left the university (moved to ZNU, as I understand it…) b) as a result, the term paper has to be submitted by the end of this session (the 23rd) c) the new department head, who on the 15th cheerfully informed us that he’ll be away on a business trip on the 23rd, so we have to submit it by the 21st. I’m absolutely furious at this appalling organization. It’s a disgrace to higher education. And in the Bologna Process lecture the instructor was telling us that their university ranks in the top fifty in the country and is first (FIRST) among private institutions. And they spent 15 years preparing for the state-funded enrollment of students like us. Then, when the group tried to complain to the lecturer in charge of our specialization about the difficulties with writing the term paper, the whole thing devolved into a ridiculous mess. They summoned some deputy dean who came to sort things out. And my dear classmates, like market fishwives, raised an absolute uproar, a cacophony of shouting and jabbering. In the chaos, the guy heard only what was convenient for him and steered the conversation in the direction that suited him. The women kept harping on about having no computers or internet access to work on the term paper (many of them commute from out of town). The deputy dean promised to free up 2 school days (Saturday and Sunday — economics and law lectures) and reschedule them to the following Saturday–Sunday. Through the muddle of everyone talking over each other, it somehow turned out — in a way I couldn’t quite follow — that there’d only be one such day, and the classes wouldn’t be moved to another Saturday but spread across several days instead. After further clarification, the final outcome was: nobody will reschedule anything, we’ll sort it out with the instructors, computers will be available, come on in. Well, that’s what was declared. The women calmed down. I sat there brooding. Instead of standing up for their rights, they managed to get some classes cancelled. But the instructor will still test them on the material. So in the end, nothing was gained — and the term paper still has to be written in one day of light. And these are the people governing our country! I’m ashamed to be one of them. The crowning chord of the term paper saga was the day the classes were cancelled. The law lecturer showed up anyway, found 7 students instead of 60, delivered his lecture — because nobody had warned him and nobody had made any arrangements with him. As for the majority’s absence, he said it was disrespectful to the instructor. He noted who was there and who wasn’t. We’ll see what those women’s screaming has actually accomplished. And I’m trying to force myself to write the term paper, but nothing is coming. I chose a vaguely IT-ish topic, since it’s closer to my profession. But the title “Information and Communication Aspects of Management” strikes me as very broad and in need of clarification. There are no IT people in the department; I approached the ones who teach us Word and HTML. The first has no graduate students, the second isn’t interested in public administration — he considers himself some kind of hotshot systems guy who has enough on his plate. So I sit here, twiddling my thumbs, thinking. Mostly thinking: “do I even need this?”…