System errors related to the assigned capacities of several modules was the cause of the delay in module enrolment opening yesterday, College has said.
1,600 students have made over 20,000 individual module enrolments since yesterday afternoon.
In a statement this evening Director of IT Services, Patrick Magee said that the issue came to light during “final checks across the systems that manage student and course enrolments for the new Undergraduate Common Architecture”.
“We noticed that the capacities on some of the most popular modules should be increased,” he continued.
Magee also said they felt it was “important to be able to offer additional capacity since this is a first-come, first-served model of enrolment” and they “appreciate that finding a preferred open module full so quickly would disappoint many of our students”.
According to Magee, approximately 20% of the Optional or Open Modules are at full capacity, while another 10% are nearing their designated capacity.
Enrollment for senior fresh and junior sophister students was meant to begin at 2pm yesterday, having been pushed back from July. However when students went to log in, they were informed that it had been further delayed to 4pm.
However, many were unable to access the portal even at this time. While some students found the system allowed them access just after 3pm, many were not able to register until more than half an hour after the planned 4pm opening time.
The enrollment system for classes operates on a first-come-first-served basis, meaning that telling students registration would open at 4pm and then (in some cases) allowing access earlier than that may have caused students to miss out on their preferred classes.
Last year, online module enrollment for senior fresh students opened later than the announced time following a series of delays to the system.
Enrollment for senior fresh modules through the my.tcd.ie portal opened half an hour after the preannounced time of 11am following delays earlier in the week that saw the opening of enrollment pushed from Monday, September 21 to Friday, September 25.
The portal for online module enrolment will remain open until midnight on Tuesday 24 August.
Junior fresh students will make module choices in September after Leaving Certificate results and CAO offers have been released.
Additional reporting by Shannon Connolly.
