ONLINE LEARNING, COVID AND CLASSISM

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged class, coronavirus, Covid-19, education, employability, featured, higher education, mental health, online learning, privilege, stress, student finance, student life, university, working class, working class students.

By Kasper Hassett

Although UK universities boast that their online teaching provision is adequate to the current crisis, deep-rooted inequalities in the class system cause the poorest students to suffer the most. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, working-class students are faced with more challenges than usual, and are also less able to access online teaching than their middle- and upper-class peers. Despite their disproportionate struggle to engage with remote teaching, universities are refusing to show leniency with deferrals and adjustments, feigning blindness to a violently unjust class system. The response of universities to this pandemic is insufficient at best, and places those students facing hardship at an even further disadvantage.

#NOTENOUGH – UEA’S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged #NotEnough, Ayeshah Lalloo, counselling, david richardson, featured, Jess Fairweather, Jonathan Walker, mental health, Nick Sadler, norwich, solidarity, Sophie Smith, stress, Student Support Services, student welfare, students, suicide, Theo Brennan Hulme, UEA, UEA SU, universities, WeWillBeHeard, young people.

By Jess O’Dwyer

Content warning: mentions suicide

Going to university is a challenging time. For many it is their first time away from home with full independence. New students are presented with countless opportunities and choices, many of which will shape and change them as people. For people with mental health issues, however, this challenge is often exacerbated.

EXAMS SHOULD BE ABOLISHED – HERE’S WHY

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged A-levels, assessment, campaigning, capitalism, casual employment, ChildLine, commodification, consumerism, counselling, education, employment, exam abolition, exams, featured, further education, GCSEs, higher education, hourly-paid tutors, knowledge, marketisation, May '68, mental health, mental health services, national curriculum, NSPCC, Paris '68, phD, postgraduate, postgraduate tutors, revision, schools, skills, stress, student activism, student mental health, teachers, UCL, UCU, undergraduate, universities, university drop outs, workforce, zero hours contracts.

By Dan Davison

Examinations are woven into the fabric of student life. From the ‘Key Stage’ National Curriculum assessments I sat in childhood through to the tests I took as a Master’s student, every stage of my education has known the familiar cycle of revision, testing, marking and grading. It was not until I became a precariously employed university tutor that I realised how dangerously uncritical we are of that cycle. By this point it seems so natural to make people sit exams at various points in their lives that it scarcely occurs to the public consciousness that students and teachers might be better off without such a regimented approach to learning.

FREEING EDUCATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS – BEYOND TUITION FEES #5

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged academic staff, activism, apathy, Beyond Tuition Fees, borders, Community, consumerism, culture, diversity, economy, elitism, Free Education, government, higher education, individualism, international students, internationalism, jeremy corbyn, Labour, learning, lecturers, maintenance loans, marketisation, migration, politics, privatisation, solidarity, stress, student debt, tef, theresa may, Tories, tuition fees, UCU, UEA, USS strikes.

By Lotty Clare

It is a time of extraordinary potential for change in UK Higher Education. Labour’s promise to end tuition fees has defied the critics and united many behind Corbyn’s political project. But what will the implications for universities be if this comes to pass? And what can we do to leverage this progress? In this series, the Norwich Radical and Bright Green are bringing together perspectives from across the sector to explore these questions.

We face many challenges as students in 2018. Painfully high tuition fees along with eye-watering maintenance loans means that lower income students will leave university with over £50,000 of debt. Bafflingly, Prime Minister Theresa May only recently came to the realisation that poorer students are getting deterred from going into higher education. By contrast, the Labour Party’s promises to scrap tuition fees and bring back maintenance grants are of course a welcome relief for many prospective students – UK national students that is. Labour have seemingly barely considered the possibility of doing the same for international students. At the University of East Anglia, non-EU international students pay about £14,800 annually, on top of having to prove that they have access to thousands of pounds for living costs. If education is a right, why are we privileging wealthier international students in this way? What would Britain look like if we abolished or at least dramatically reduced fees for international students?

THE VITALITY OF INDIE & STUDENT EXHIBITIONS

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Student and tagged arts funding, arts students, colonialist, commodification, communication, Community, community spaces, conversation, corporate sponsorship, culture, economics, exhibitions, experimentation, featured, gallery spaces, independent space, mainstream art, monetisation, new labour, norwich, Norwich art, Nunns Yard, profiteering, stress, student artwork, Studio 20, The Tate, time, vested interests, white cube, Yallops.

by Laura Potts

The noteworthy Norwich art scene is home to many small gallery-like spaces that have a fast and frequent turnover of shows. Spaces such as Yallops, Nunns Yard and Studio 20 are home to a diverse spectrum of work, and as we enter the spring months they have become hives of activity swarming with artists and viewers. These spaces are important, vital – the work and people they house are integral to cultural independence in the city.

40%

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged 40%, academia, degree, education, employment, first year, new year's resolution, pass mark, reading, skills, stress, students, teaching, undergraduate, university.

by Alex Powell

I’m sure you’ve all heard it at least once. ‘40% is all I need. It’s first year, it doesn’t really count for anything.’ It’s obvious, right? If the year doesn’t count towards your final degree classification, then you don’t really need to try. Right?

AN UNUSUAL LOVE STORY: APPRECIATING THE DEPTH OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged authority, Baumbach, Bitter Sweet, boyfriend, career, emotions, female friends, female friendship, feminism, film, Frances Ha, friendship, Greta Gerwig, heartache, housewife, identity, individuals, love, love story, Lucy Irigarary, masculinity, Mickey Sumner, monetary stability, movie, sexism, sisterhood, society, solidarity, stress, The Friend That Got Away, women.

by Sunetra Senior

The story of Noamh Baumbach’s 2012 film ‘Frances Ha’ focuses on the drifting friendship between two women in their late twenties. There is a particularly poignant scene where Frances (Greta Gerwig) awakes to find that her best friend, Sophie, (Mickey Sumner) has left without saying goodbye after spending the night sleeping over when they haven’t seen each other in a long time. As Sophie’s car pulls away, Frances runs after her screaming her name. This boldly illustrates the highly sentimental nature of many women’s friendships and the pain that inevitably results because, we as a society, do not respect it. Indeed, through all the big life changes Frances explicitly undergoes — moving between different apartments, facing financial troubles, and trying to launch a tentative dancing career —what remains as palpably constant are the unrequited affections for her ever elusive friend.

Unfortunately, this is very much reflective of what happens in ordinary life.Continue Reading

MY AFTER DARK EXPERIENCE AS ANOTHER STUDENT’S LIFELINE

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged anonymous, anxiety, careers advisor, depression, exams, homesick, lifeline, listen, listening service, mental health, mental illness, nightline, norwich nightline, NUA, phone call, stress, student, student life, suicide, support, support systems, talking, UEA, universities, university, university life, volunteer led, volunteers, young people.

Disclaimer: mentions suicide

by Olivia Davis

Nightline is unique.

A phone call at 3AM under normal circumstances as a regular student would result in a sigh or occasionally, slight frustration. However, at Nightline it is an opportunity for a student to reach out when they may be feeling at a low or a vulnerable point in their life. As a volunteer listening service operating at over 50 universities in the UK with over 2000 student volunteers, Nightline operates as a reliable network for fellow students.

Norwich Nightline is open for both UEA and NUA students, 8PM-8AM everyday of term, regardless of exams or holidays. “We’ll listen, not lecture” is the main policy volunteers abide by in our mission to provide others in need of guidance.Continue Reading

A THOUGHT ON SELF CARE THIS WINTER

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged care, christmas, coursework, deadlines, essays, mental health, netflix, self care, stress, student, student life, UEA, university, weather, winter.

By Sam Naylor

The Christmas month has arrived. For some this realisation comes with a groan as materialism and capitalism grips the nation tightly, churning out ‘heartfelt’ Christmas adverts for supermarkets and the repetitive spew of songs from Christmas pasts. Though I am guilty of a deep-rooted love for the festive period, where family and friends merge in the winter landscape. December is also the month for many University students where deadlines loom overhead, either intensifying the stressed-out mentality or acting as a dampener to the winter wonderland. The juggling act to keep all the tasks moving smoothly begins to experience shakes and wobbles. Now I’m not saying that being a student in the UK is the hardest life (though the scraping of maintenance grants and proposed change to nursing and midwifery tuition payments will certainly make matters much worse), but it isn’t just Netflix and takeaways either.

stress

ONLINE LEARNING, COVID AND CLASSISM

#NOTENOUGH – UEA’S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

EXAMS SHOULD BE ABOLISHED – HERE’S WHY

FREEING EDUCATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS – BEYOND TUITION FEES #5

THE VITALITY OF INDIE & STUDENT EXHIBITIONS

40%

AN UNUSUAL LOVE STORY: APPRECIATING THE DEPTH OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS

MY AFTER DARK EXPERIENCE AS ANOTHER STUDENT’S LIFELINE

A THOUGHT ON SELF CARE THIS WINTER

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