A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
The revamped University library is set to stay open 24 hours a day — but not until after the Easter vacation in 2012.
Staff and students will be able to access the library during the night using new-style electronic university cards.
YUSU Academic Affairs Officer Graeme Osborn made the announcement in a message on the student union’s website.
He told The Yorker that YUSU had campaigned for the past few years for extended opening but “due in part to refurbishment, the university and library had refused to put a timescale in place to achieve it”.
The library has been under construction for much of the past two years as it undergoes a £20 million refurbishment.
“I have been lobbying for 24-hour opening for the last two years, believing that the refurbishment is the best opportunity we'll have as a union to secure it for our students”, Osborn said.
“I am glad that the university have finally agreed to this, especially as we now have such fantastic facilities after so much disruption to students,” he added.
A number of universities already have 24-hour library access, including Bath, Sheffield and Leicester. Others, such as UCL, offer it during exam periods.
Students have welcomed the announcement but some question why the changes cannot be implemented sooner.
“The sooner we have it the better. I know some third years have got exams the minute they get back to York”, said one final year student.
Liz Waller, Deputy Director of Information at the library, said that the long time-frame wass unavoidable because of ongoing construction work.
“24 hour opening has been requested by the student body and the university is supporting this with additional funding for the summer term onwards," she told The Yorker.
“The final completed building will enable us to offer this service safely and securely. 24 hour opening will commence once the building work is fully completed and we have had the opportunity to test all systems and procedures.”
Building work at the library is expected to be finished by February next year. The 500-seat Harry Fairhurst building, which eased pressure on study space in the main library, opened in April.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the library’s new entrance area will not be ready in time for the start of term next week. The area remains boarded off, and is now scheduled to open at the start of Week 2.
YUSU’s Osborn said that “asbestos problems” were the cause of the delay.
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