"Cardboard university", "machine to crush the students", "disastrous administration" ... On Twitter, the medical students of the University of Paris do not hide their anger, after the postponement, at the last minute, of their tests partials.
A hashtag, #mentalbreakup ("up" for University of Paris), has been used more than 15,000 times since Monday to denounce, more generally, a lack of consideration of students and an overload of work since the merger in July , from the universities of Paris Descartes (Paris-V) and Paris Diderot (Paris-VII).
As of Monday, second-year medical students were to take part, for three days, in their exams at the end of the first semester.
An "extremely stressful" ordeal that requires months of preparation, "says Léa, in second year.
The 800 students in his class, who had previously followed an online course because of the pandemic, took their exams face-to-face, divided between the Bichat and Villemin sites.
"Already, social distancing was not held, it was a bit of a mess," says the young woman of 19 years.
Videos posted on Twitter show hundreds of students crowded in corridors, waiting to be able to access the rooms.
A disaster today, we must have been crowded in the corridors
between the events.
Events which were
finally canceled due to unloaded
tablets and non-
functional
wifi
.
This faculty has no seriousness and no respect.
#MentalBreakUP pic.twitter.com/yCMarwgjz5
- SK⚕️ (@skskskhil) January 4, 2021
Tablets without wi-fi
The students then retrieved the tablets that allow them to take the tests by connecting to the “Sides” site.
On the Villemin campus, everything went “pretty much normally”, says Ethan Krief, also in second year.
But in Bichat, around fifty students found themselves deprived of an exam due to a lack of wi-fi.
"Seeing that my tablet was not connected to the Internet, I was very afraid, while the stress of the exams was already enormous," says Sasha.
READ ALSO>
"We are all going to screw up": the anguish of first year medical students
The supervisor hands him another tablet, with no more success.
“That's when we realized that it was global, several tablets could not connect… but some did.
So some students had access to the test and others did not, ”says the young woman.
"It was however predictable", judge Lea, "even going to the university one does not receive wi-fi".
“That means they haven't even done the necessary tests to check the connection before the exams…”, regrets Sasha.
Like her, 50 students will have to retake this test on a date still unknown.
The dean of the UFR of medicine, Philippe Ruszniewski, assures us that it is the “too large number of students”, doubled since the merger, which pushed the server to saturation, “despite all the precautions taken upstream”.
But this is not the university's first computer bug.
Since the summer, students have already had major problems registering for college or taking their courses remotely.
Postponement of the tests at the last minute
Faced with this situation, the management of the university finally decided to cancel the second test, which was to start at 3 p.m., and to send all the students home.
At around 8:30 p.m. the students received an email explaining that the exams for the next day were also postponed, without specifying the date.
“It was cold.
They did not even apologize for the incidents of the day ”, regrets Sasha.
To "avoid a new bug", the events will be caught remotely Thursday and Friday, has since indicated the management.
The fifty or so students who are missing one more subject than the others will take the exam after the holidays, initially scheduled for Wednesday evening.
"It means that we will have to study again during the holidays, and that we will have a different subject, therefore potentially easier or more difficult… where is the equality?
»Sasha indignantly.
The tension generated by the postponement of the tests is added to the fear of failing in the face of this dreaded exam, also confides Ethan.
Since the merger, students no longer have the right to the "debt system", which until then made it possible to catch up during the year for the subjects they failed.
“Today, if I don't have the average, it's the catch-ups, direct.
And if I still have less than 10 in the catch-ups, I have to repeat in a sector where there are already 12 years of study ”, worries the young man.
"The tip of the iceberg"
"Well beyond the problems of partials, which are the tip of the iceberg, there are deeper concerns within this university", denounces Morgane Gode-Henric, president of the National Association of Medical Students of France.
“The merger was supposed to create a hub of excellence, but it was not well prepared.
Today, the University of Paris prides itself on being one of the best universities in the world, notably in the Shanghai ranking, but it completely obscures the quality of life of its students, ”assures the third year medical student.
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
On social networks, testimonials from university students asking for better follow-up have been counted in the hundreds since the launch of #mentalbreakup.
“We, UP students, future doctors, are left adrift.
An astronomical workload, constant pressure on our shoulders, a lack of consideration and support, help us, ”claims for example a student in a tweet shared almost 1000 times.
‼ ️RT APPRECIATED‼ ️
We UP students, future doctors, are left adrift.
Astronomical workload, constant pressure on our shoulders, lack of consideration and support.
We need you.
Help us.
#MentalBreakUP
- לאה :) (@ lea_591) January 4, 2021
Morgane Gode-Henric is particularly worried about the psychological consequences that this lack of support could have in an already very "difficult" sector.
Especially since the unprecedented context forces students to isolate themselves even more, by following all of their courses remotely.
READ ALSO>
Redouble or risk contaminating others?
The dilemma of Covid-positive medical candidates
Lea abounds.
For her, postponing their partial was just the “straw that broke the camel's back”, but many other problems already existed, starting with the workload.
Considerable, the tasks of the students would be further amplified by the fact of taking the courses online.
"The teachers think that it suits us, therefore penalize us", testifies a student on Twitter.
Another emphasizes that distance learning encourages teachers to make their lessons last, regardless of timetables.
On the other hand, many second-year students ensure that the Paris-V and Paris-VII courses have been added this year, significantly increasing the workload.
"We end up with a program of 4496 pages of courses, while the university says black and white that it takes between 800 and 1400 pages for the first semester," regrets Ethan.
The student wrote an open letter to the dean of the UFR to express his anger on this problem and many others.
#mentalbreakUP here is the message that I sent to the dean of our college
I let you appreciate the answer 🥴🥴🥴 pic.twitter.com/MLrvYDCzKW
- Krief (@EthanKrief) January 4, 2021
But this assertion is "false", according to Philippe Ruszniewski.
The dean of the UFR ensures that the program has even "decreased a little" compared to last year.
“Students have this impression with the distance learning system because they copy absolutely everything the teacher says and end up with a considerable volume of paper,” he said.
For him, it is the Covid-19 and not the merger that make “the current conditions difficult” for these students.
Finally, many students complain of a lack of communication, while contacting the university would be an “obstacle course”.
"Concentrate on preparing for the exams, it will be better afterwards" what level of condescension is that ??????
#mentalbreakup https://t.co/7c7ovm5yWG
- Camille (@camillecmy) January 4, 2021
“In summary, since the start of the school year, there has been a glaring lack of consideration towards students,” concludes Arabelle Dumoulin, elected to the university.
They do a lot for the public hospital and do not receive much for their training in return ”.