{"id":6613,"date":"2025-11-26T00:01:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T00:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/?p=6613"},"modified":"2025-12-05T14:50:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T14:50:05","slug":"university-vice-principal-confronted-over-cut-library-hours-and-poor-student-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/news\/2025\/11\/26\/university-vice-principal-confronted-over-cut-library-hours-and-poor-student-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"University leader confronted over cut library hours and poor student experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

A University leader was challenged and heckled by students frustrated by issues impacting their student experiences.<\/p>\n

At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Aberdeen University Students\u2019 Association (AUSA), guest Professor Jo-Anne Murray responded to students as the University\u2019s Vice-Principal for Education. Concerns included reduced law library hours, barriers to international and PhD students, the rise of AI, decline in staff-student contact hours and institutional transparency.<\/p>\n

The meeting was promoted by the Students\u2019 Union (AUSA) as a platform to discuss cut library hours in \u201cthe biggest student debate of the year\u201d with the added appeal of pizza from its sponsor.<\/p>\n

At 17.30pm on November 18, a required quorum of 200 members was exceeded by about 50 attendees. Students then voted to approve last year\u2019s meeting minutes and the 2023\/24 financial accounts which showed that about 80% of the \u00a31 million core funding from University of Aberdeen went towards paying union staff.<\/p>\n

Guest speaker Professor Jo-Anne Murray arrived late to the AGM, forcing Chair Kaitlin Agius to reshuffle the agenda.<\/p>\n

At the meeting, frustration<\/a> about Taylor Library\u2019s cut hours and weekend closures came to a boiling point. Law students were especially outspoken: the library provides materials essential to their courses including highly demanded law texts, some of which cannot be taken home.<\/p>\n

Other problems raised about campus libraries included strained capacity during assessment periods, noise on designated silent floors, and poor accessibility for neurodivergent students.<\/p>\n

Student officer Samuel Seymour said that \u201cdue to current financial constraints, the university has not reinstated posts that became vacant\u201d in the library team, causing reduced hours. As Vice-President for Education, he held talks with chief librarian Simon Beins and COO Fraser Bell who were \u201cunlikely to restore previous hours\u201d but seemed \u201cwilling to adjust hours within the current cost envelope.\u201d<\/p>\n

A student suggested that if the main issue is staffing and funding, perhaps students could volunteer to keep the library open later. Another student requested a student internship scheme as a solution.<\/p>\n

Samuel promised to pass such ideas on to university management. He was unable to answer several more detailed questions about library accessibility, finances and staffing because the Students\u2019 Union – where he works – does not manage the library.<\/p>\n

\"Aberdeen
Aberdeen University Students’ Association recently rebranded to the Students’ Union (Photo: Fred Byrne)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat further action can we take if the University doesn\u2019t listen to AUSA?\u201d asked a second-year law student.<\/p>\n

Samuel Seymour responded that he may consider \u201cmore visible action if the situation further deteriorates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mehak Verma, organiser of a petition to restore Taylor library hours, told The Gaudie<\/i>: \u201cIf the petition doesn\u2019t work after submission, I think our only solution is to assemble a large group of students to sit in the library past closing hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the meeting, Professor Jo-Anne Murray presented the university\u2019s Adapting for Continued Success programme<\/a> which outlines a structure for wide-level operational transformations across the university and the floor was then opened for a Q&A. Several students took the opportunity to ask questions highly critical of University management, each such question punctuated by a loud applause.<\/p>\n

\"Professor
Professor Jo-Anne Murray, Vice-Principal for Education, presented the Adapating for Changing Success plan to transform university operations (Photo: Fred Byrne)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Responding to a question on how students can input in workstreams in the ongoing Adapting for Continued Success programme<\/a>, the professor replied, \u201cplease tell us ways you\u2019d like to input because I like to think I’ve got a lot of good ideas, but they’re not always good.\u201d<\/p>\n

International students expressed dissatisfaction towards the institution, one student telling Prof Murray, \u201cyou take our money, then completely ignore us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another international student described being sent through a bureaucratic nightmare when they appeared to be removed from a course on MyAberdeen: \u201cEven though I had paid my fees well in advance, I had not been registered as a student. To this day I don’t know if I am registered. When I contacted the university, I was sent from place to place. I called my parents crying on the phone. It\u2019s been a month and I’m frustrated that no one will give me an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Murray replied \u201cthat’s not good enough and I’m sorry, but we will fix that,\u201d and invited the student to leave their details at the end of the meeting.<\/p>\n

Another student made a defiant speech about contact hours with staff and quality of teaching: \u201cStaff are not paid enough and are asked to do too much. They therefore have little time for students. Contact hours are lessening by the year and in the meantime the university is suggesting this can be fixed by technology, which means AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still need school administrators. We still need junior staff, PhD students and teaching staff at the upper levels. So what is the university going to do to maintain that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Murray replied that Aberdeen has the best staff-student ratio in Scotland and a higher-than-average salary bill, but work is needed to ensure student experience reflects those statistics.<\/p>\n

Another student voiced concerns on how equality, diversity, and inclusion will be promoted in Adapting for Continued Success if people of colour do not see representation in the senior management team.<\/p>\n

\"A
A student said they do not have a good opinion of University of Aberdeen (Photo: Fred Byrne)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The final question to Prof Murray saw an ex-military student ask: \u201cAre we going to end up with a University that is such a dismal mess that nobody wants to be here?\u201d and \u201cI don\u2019t think we have a good opinion of ourselves as a university and I think most students think quite poorly of us,\u201d prompting sustained applause.<\/p>\n

Prof Murray replied: \u201cI promise you, I will make changes that you need me to make; that\u2019s why I\u2019m in the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the guest speaker left New King\u2019s 6, an attendee heckled: \u201cI am a PhD student, and the university does not acknowledge my existence.\u201d Loujain Alzahrani, the PGR Society Founder & President, felt \u201cignored\u201d at the meeting and has now sent an open letter to Prof Murray outlining a \u201clack\u201d of workspace, communication, community, administrative clarity, teaching opportunities, and teaching training for postgraduate students.<\/p>\n

At the meeting, Vice-President for Education Samuel Seymour presented \u2018SU-ggestions\u2019, a platform on ausa.org.uk for contributing policy ideas. In 2024\/25, the SU-ggestion with the most votes (90) was to open a bar in the Students\u2019 Union. In response, AUSA made a prank announcement of a new bar for April Fools\u2019 Day. In summer, over 50 SU-ggestions were purged<\/a> from AUSA\u2019s website so that the 2025\/26 suggestions page could start from scratch.<\/p>\n

Student President Christina Schmid presented plans for changes to the Students\u2019 Union based on its recent democracy review<\/a>. Reforms are expected to include a reduction in annual meeting quorum from 200 to 50 members, replacing student council with a \u2018community organising model\u2019 and reducing the number of full-time elected student representatives.<\/p>\n

Post-AGM, students exchanged mixed views about the meeting\u2019s productivity. Library hours petitioner Mehak Verma reflected that she feels \u201cless hopeful\u201d about restoring library hours but \u201cabsolutely loved\u201d the AGM, adding that the Chair was \u201cquite funny, good at her role and gave everyone a chance to be heard.\u201d However, she shared: \u201cI disliked how some speakers didn\u2019t actually have authority to answer questions sufficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Various society committee members described the meeting as \u201ccrazy\u201d and \u201cheated\u201d, some wondering whether only a small subset of active students attend such meetings to vent their frustrations.<\/p>\n

Nour Elshenawy, The Gaudie<\/i> co-Editor-in-Chief and rep for women’ s rugby, was disappointed by the AGM:<\/p>\n

\u201cI expected to hear more about club funding, the payment system and promised floodlights. We cannot train at our normal training times and location.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement shared by AUSA, Vice-President for Education Samuel Seymour said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to everyone who contributed at the AGM and to those who continue to get in touch. Every experience shared helps us strengthen the case for restoring access to the study spaces students rely on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is vital that the University provides services that genuinely meet students\u2019 needs, and we will be taking forward the ideas and concerns raised to make that case directly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A University leader was challenged and heckled by students frustrated by issues impacting their student experiences. At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Aberdeen University Students\u2019 Association (AUSA), guest Professor Jo-Anne Murray responded to students as the University\u2019s Vice-Principal for Education. Concerns included reduced law library hours, barriers to international and PhD students, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","iawp_total_views":130,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[200,198,1614,1291,1559,1560,201,183],"wf_post_folders":[181],"class_list":{"0":"post-6613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-ausa","9":"tag-christina-schmid","10":"tag-jo-anne-murray","11":"tag-kaitlin-agius","12":"tag-mehak-verma","13":"tag-samuel-seymour","14":"tag-students-union","15":"tag-university-of-aberdeen"},"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Fred Byrne","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/author\/marketing\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Photo_-Fred-Byrne2-300x135.jpeg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["News<\/a>"],"unlinked":["News<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["AUSA<\/a>","Christina Schmid<\/a>","Jo-Anne Murray<\/a>","kaitlin agius<\/a>","Mehak Verma<\/a>","Samuel Seymour<\/a>","Students' Union<\/a>","University of Aberdeen<\/a>"],"unlinked":["AUSA<\/span>","Christina Schmid<\/span>","Jo-Anne Murray<\/span>","kaitlin agius<\/span>","Mehak Verma<\/span>","Samuel Seymour<\/span>","Students' Union<\/span>","University of Aberdeen<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 9 months ago","modified":"Updated 8 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 26 November 2025","modified":"Updated on 5 December 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 26 November 2025 00:01","modified":"Updated on 5 December 2025 14:50"},"featured_img_caption":"Mehak Verma gave a speech pleading for reversal of cuts to Taylor Library hours (Photo: Fred Byrne)","series_order":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6613"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6701,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6613\/revisions\/6701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6613"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}