Never in the past would I have said i made the wrong choice in taking this course, and I still maintain that.

However, I regret taking the module hilariously named “Introduction to Finance and Financial Markets”.As much as i complain, the prospect of failing, or at least obtaining the most pathetic pass ever, is a very real possibility.

And this isn’t just my low mathematical self esteem talking.Who would have known we would have such an absolutely inaudible, arrogant, unorganised and unhelpful excuse of a lecturer as the man who would actually teach us this module?

There are no past exam papers to revise from. According to him, they are useless, so don’t bother. The exercises he gives us are scarce, incredibly confusing and not so much as an introduction to finance than a Masters finance exam. And the solutions.. well, he doesn’t really tell us what the link is between the question and the answers, we just assume its right.

Perhaps the most disappointing and frustrating part of this is the response to student requests for help. We go to the director of studies and he throws a bunch of official legislation at us, which accomplishes nothing but telling us if we all fail, it is the boards policy to consider a slight adjustment of marks to properly balance the distribution of 2.2s, 2.1s etc. So reassuring. We go to the lecturer and he calls our pleas “embarrassing and annoying” (his words not mine). He tells us to get 40% and anything else is a bonus. Well thanks but if i get 40%, I might as well choose to miss the exam and sleep in. Its much more worthwhile.

That I believe is a failure of the system and indeed the school of management in heeding anything students say. I am disappointed, and feel that the students voice is nothing more than a promotional tool for the university to show they let us speak (even if they don’t listen).

In my most cynical mood, I believe Bath University is nothing more than a research base who teach students on the side just to fund the research articles they write which may bring them academic prominence and fame. They are looking for more ways to fund research, not teaching. The proof? Lecturers who are really foreign postgrads admitting they don’t want to teach but they’re forced to in order to complete their programme and department. Boasts from the prospectus that Bath are one of the best research uni’s in europe, without a mention about the teaching. New accomodation buildings greedily built to house stinkin’ rich international students, the irony being these students dont even find Bath such an attractive uni anymore, since the uni have not prioritised levels of teaching quality, allowing their rankings to have slipped.

Yes, this is a just a whingeing blog on my part. But the majority of the fellow sufferers will need a miracle to get us through this exam.

I’ve accomplished nothing in terms of revision today, but on the plus side I did generate a whole lotta fury..