Uni students face more papers to earn degree

Students will be forced to take more papers each semester following changes at some New Zealand universities.

Students claim the changes to the amount of points each degree paper is worth will lead to bigger workloads. However, university representatives disagree.

Tertiary institutions, including Victoria and Canterbury universities, have reduced the value of university papers to make it easier to plan degrees and change courses.

At Victoria, points awarded for second year science and commerce students have already been cut from 20 to 15 points. Next year, third year papers will be reduced to 15 points from 24. The changes mean students completing a single degree will need to take eight papers a year, as opposed to six.

Third year economics, econometrics and psychology student Aaron Baggenstos, 20, said the value of his science papers had been cut, but the workload was the same.

"I'm not very happy with it because I don't feel that there's any less work," he said.

He said he expected it to extend the length of his degree by a semester. This will cost him a further $6000 to $7000 in fees and living costs.

Mr Baggenstos said doing an extra paper during the semester was not an option. Four papers per semester was already "a huge amount of work  I couldn't do any more".

International student Lindsey Lawless, 19, said: "It might take a little bit longer [to complete a degree] or just mean extra work during each semester."

Victoria University Students Association president Max Hardy said the changes made sense, but he was concerned about the impact of the workload on students.

The workload would increase with two extra exams per year, and more study time required per paper, he said.

Mr Hardy said students would need to buy more course materials, such as books, which were expensive.

However, Victoria University Faculty of Commerce acting dean John Brocklesby said the changes aimed to simplify the degree process and bring it into line with other tertiary institutions here and overseas.

"The total number of points required for a degree has remained the same," Prof. Brocklesbury said.

"The only change is that students will need to do more papers of smaller size, to complete their degree."

Canterbury University acting vice chancellor Steve Weaver said that, "overall, there shouldn't be more work to do" and it should not take students longer to complete their degrees.

A spokesperson for the Auckland University of Technology said their papers were already worth 15 points.

Spokesmen from Waikato and Otago Universities said their points system remained the same and there were no plans for any changes.

- © Fairfax NZ News