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This last week I have had a couple of disheartening experiences at university...

#Disillusionment1
One was a study support workshop that I joined about research skills, which lasted for an hour. The lecturer introduced us to the concept of action research or research conducted live in order to solve or further understand one's query, and asked us to question the role of research in our practice, or more specifically how does research inform our practice. His concern was that most students undergo an uncritical design process in which research is not being exploited to its full potential.
I think the remarks made and the presentation were useful and informative, however, when we had the opportunity to share our thoughts, the lecturer jumped from one opinion to other as he rushed for another commitment he had, without providing any feedback on what was being discussed. Not only this was shocking and impolite to me, but the fact that one of his colleagues was having lunch during the round table discussion clearly marked the tone of the meeting: beyond informal. For the furthering of my shock, another colleague mentioned, while the other two were leaving the room, tomorrow I am giving a lecture on plagiarism!  As if we were in the middle of a Sunday market, trying to sell the goods, which I suppose, trough the attendance controlled workshops the university provides, induces this losing the slot fear or more colloquially, loosing the job. So the first one came most bluntly to promote his own MA program, and the second one, as if a banner on the street, to in a glimpse self-promote (namely academic PRing). I left amazed.



This workshop was given as part of the study skills support scheme provided by UAL to undergraduate and postgraduate students, delivered by Richard Reynolds ,titled Research and your Practice, on Monday 3rd of March 2014.



#Disillusionment2
My second disillusionment with this institution, Central Saint Martins, is the lack of studio space, which I believe to be a common concern among students. It is part of the Architecture school studio culture, to assign a space to students which are assigned lessons on that particular day. Since prearranged sessions take place everyday of the week, and only two spaces are available to use, they get filled up either in the morning or evening, or both. Consequently there is no guarantee to remain in the same space i.e. desk, for the whole day even if you arrive early in the morning. This means that the studio is only available to us on Thursdays, when our tutorials take place. The rest of the days you get pushed around, unless you manage to get into one of the staff rooms to work. This rooms are usually empty and they get used occasionally during the day, so I have used them temporarily to finish work. Unfortunately, today a member of staff kindly reminded me: this rooms are for the delivery of tutorials...who allowed you in? Stupidly I answered and left, as she proceeded to prepare the room.
After the event I had to consider my possibilities, as in where do I work? You can't model-make in the library, and there's usually no room from 11-5 pm. You might consider working in a corridor, where, if lucky, you might grab a shared table, which you can't leave, as there's the possibility of someone stealing your stuff, namely, your computer. Last but not least, you may consider being entrepreneurial and grabbing a table from somewhere and setting yourself up in one of the main bridges above the street, but it turns out there is a shortage of desks!

The implications of this continuous displacements are surely not the only cause to place UAL at the bottom of the survey on student satisfaction in the UK in 2013, (123 out of 124) but surely many other factors. It is disappointing that given the hard work of all or the majority of our lectures and tutors, the framework the university provides to work is so poor...But it seems to be a problem of form rather than content. I wouldn't like to undermine the performance of the staff, but there are certain aspects that truly affect our learning, i.e. the lack of appropriate spaces to study, which results in the locking of students in their homes to work and impeding and possibility of creating a community or a studio culture that contemplates the sharing of resources or knowledge.




Central Saint Martins is part of the "University of the Arts London (formerly the London Institute) is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom specialised  in art, design, fashion andmedia. It is a collegiate university comprising six constituent colleges: Camberwell  College of Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London  College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art." Wikipedia