Students affected by late module enrolment have expressed disappointment and stress at the delay which has meant that many students cannot enroll in their modules until after teaching begins.
It was reported yesterday that module enrollment for students who sat supplemental exams or who completed last semester abroad will open on September 14, two days after teaching begins.
Many students have reported that they had not been notified of the delay, which affects hundreds of students, prior to it being reported by Trinity News.
One student who resat an exam said: “Hearing that module selection is not available to me until the middle of the first week back is pretty disheartening, especially after just finishing my resit exam and being relieved to be able to finally move on and be excited to get back to college.”
They continued: “The resit process was a stressful one in itself, and continues to be stressful as far as possibly setting me behind in coursework before I even have a chance to pick my modules.”
“Most frustratingly, I did not even receive an email from Trinity about it, and wouldn’t know at all if I hadn’t seen it in Trinity News.”
Others who have not yet heard from College expressed disappointment and concern at the decision to open module enrollment late.
A student who sat a deferred assessment said: “It’s a great source of stress and the college needs to recognise that a lot of students have to balance college with other things, especially work, and the likes of this situation makes things really difficult.”
“It’s disappointing above all.”
Others reiterated the stress caused by the situation: “The inability to register for college until days before lectures start is stressful. Having to also choose electives at some point, as of yet unknown, makes the start of College even more uncertain.”
They added: “Having to sit [supplemental exams] should not be a cause for having an incomplete first week of College, when there are surely solutions to prevent this, especially when blackboard modules have been prepared for weeks at this point.
Final-year students affected by the delay expressed a lack of surprise with College administration: “Honestly it’s not surprising at all.”
The student, who completed last semester abroad, continued: “Last year I wasn’t able to register until after classes had started either and I sort of just expect to not have a smooth module selection process anyway.”
“It’s terrible that students have to expect the worst of the most basic of college services, but here we are”
Another said: “I sent my results from my year abroad to Trinity in June, having received mine before my friends who had stayed in Dublin. It is now September and I have been told I would have to wait until after term starts to register and pick my modules.”
“This is very frustrating and a typical example of Trinity mismanagement. It’s a pity that such things aren’t even a surprise anymore – just expected inadequacy.
The comments echo sentiments expressed last year by students who said they were “disappointed but not surprised” with enrollment issues. In 2021, module enrollment for students was delayed by two hours, as well as a number of other issues which College later explained were due to “system errors related to module capacities”.
Some students have reported being manually checked into their modules after contacting their course administrators, in order to begin classes on time.
The school of social sciences and philosophy has told students affected by the delay that it will share a schedule of all classes during week one, so that they can attend lectures before receiving their personal timetable.
Teaching for returning students begins on September 12, while Freshers’ Week for incoming first year students begins September 19. Teaching for first year students will begin on September 26.
