Bars are finding it harder as the recession bites. Photo courtesy of Source Bar

It’s no secret that students like to party. Drinking, dancing, clubbing – you name it, students are at it. However, in the current economic climate, with student loans not stretching as far, changes have been noted in the type of activities that today’s students get up to.

No Facebook event invite would be complete without initial ‘pre-drinks’ top of the agenda, and the traditional ‘bar crawl’ has long been replaced with staying in until midnight and then heading to a club (which would have been the final destination of many in years gone by).

With fee payments increasing this year, and students taking out higher loans to cover their costs, money is going to be a high priority for students, and careful thinking about value for money is bound to be an issue.

The end of Thursday night club nights at our own 53 Degrees is symbolic in the shift in student drinking trends. A market-research campaign to gauge students’ views on Preston night life has been completed, and results are due to be published next week.

Effect on bars

So with students being more careful with their money, how is this affecting Students’ Union (SU) bar, Source?

Jon Russ, the SU Bars and Catering Operations Manager, said: “The national trend is up for bars closing; 16 pubs a day are closing up from 14 in 2010.

“Students appear to be more conscious on how they spend their money. They are spending less on nights out than in the past and saving money on drinking cheap supermarket drinks and preloading.

“Three years ago, on Saturdays, we would be at [full] capacity by 10.30pm but now it’s a lot later. People are more drunk when they come in and we turn away more people on arrival because they have had too much to drink but they’re coming here straight from halls.

And it’s not just in the evening that drinking trends are changing. Even the lunch time drink between lectures has changed.

“More people are having a soft drink between lectures. Whereas they used to come in for a pint with a meal, more students are having a soft drink instead.

“As money dries up people start nearer to the where they want to end up,” continued Jon.

But it’s not just SU bars and clubs that are feeling the pinch. In October of last year, nightclub company, Luminar, owners of Preston clubs Lava and Squires, went in to administration, showing that sales across the country in bars and clubs are falling. According to the BBC:  “The company recorded losses of £198m in the year to the end of February as sales dropped by 19%.”

One manager of a city centre bar has noticed a change in students’ attitude towards money.

“Students are becoming more financially aware than anything else,” he said. “Especially with fees going up they’re looking at what they spend their money on.”

What do students do?

There is no doubt that there is both a national and local change in the ways students are enjoying nights out. UCLan student, Lee Bradshaw, has been going on nights out in Preston since he was 18, and has noticed a big change in the sorts of nights out that students enjoy now.

He said: “When I first started going out, up until about three years ago, we used to start off in a bar at around seven or eight in the evening, and keep going until a club. We would get home about three or four in the morning. In my first year I did this three or four times a week and loved every minute of it. Drinks seemed cheaper back then so it was a lot easier to do.

“I’ve noticed students tend to go out a lot later then they used to. Rather than hitting the bars, we tend to drink at home and go straight to a club. Cost definitely plays a big part, with many bars now charging entrance fees and drinks offers just aren’t what they used to be.

“I think the future depends on how long the recession lasts. Students have felt the pinch as much as anyone else and the closures in town and at the union have shown that. I think venues who don’t adapt to changing times will struggle in the near future.”

SU Campaigns Officer, Stefan Popovic, has lived in Preston for four years, and has also noticed a change. He said, “In first year used to go to more pre-drinking bars, like two or three places on the way, then go to the main club at about half 12, 1am. But now I stay in more until 12 or so but used to be 10pm.

“Pre-drinking then was the same as pre-drinking at home now. Prices have gone up in pre-drinking bars.”

So with drinks prices rising, loan values increasing and club nights closing, it is no surprise that the impact in Preston is being felt hard, particularly for students.

By Hannah Breeze and David Stubbings

If you’re not sure where to live next year, and you still haven’t decided on an area which is right for you, then use this interactive guide to student areas in Preston.

Private halls of residence are located on the map, as well as popular areas like Plungington, Avenham and Deepdale.

View Preston housing map in a larger map

Remember, Pluto’s eight-page student housing special is published next Friday, 27th January.

Students have been trying to fathom the new e-mail system

It’s been the single biggest talking point on campus so far this term. The new online timetabling system which has angered frustrated and confused many since its arrival last month.
“Finally accessed my timetable, but don’t know what it means. Why do things clash?”
“Missed my first lecture at UCLan. I swear my timetable changes every hour.”
“Got three modules that overlap I can’t be in two places at the same time!”
These are just a few of the many comments made by students about the new system, but what exactly has gone wrong, and what will be done about it?
For Michael Ahern, Director of Learning and Information Services (LIS) there have been a number of reasons for the problems encountered by students and staff alike.

Confusion

“There are a couple of things that have caused difficulty. Firstly, if something changes, it can affect other parts of the timetable. To counter that we’ve tried to minimise the amount of changes,” he says.
“Secondly the interface that students look at is very confusing and complex. The system that we’ve got is used all over the world and we fed back to them that we were concerned about this and they are bringing out a new interface.
“But it’s really confused students. So we’re going to write our own front for it (the interface) – which is something we don’t normally do – so students get a much better view.”
The first phase of this was rolled out earlier this week; with a timetable that can be viewed day-by-day being made available with attention turning to weekly and monthly versions.

Sorry

He is also clear on another point. “I am sorry about these problems.”
Senior university staff have acknowledged that the new system has not been as easy as was hoped. The original plan was for three releases in June, July and August; each an upgrade on the previous version with fewer problem. However, the complexity of UCLan’s timetable has delayed this process, meaning the timetable was released on the second stage of development.
Rumours of students missing lectures is a cause for concern and Rod Dubrow-Marshall, Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Experience is eager to prevent students from losing out.
“Any missed learning session is a serious problem. They can usually be made up or additional materials will be made available.
“We expected that our software could cope with the complexity of our curriculum.”
The inspiration behind the centralised timetabling is to have a harmonious system all based in one place which can be flexible and changed last minute with notification given to the student. The new system also allows lecturers to look at individual student timetables for the first time; and in one instance has seen a school reschedule some of its assessments so their students’ workloads are more spread out.
However, problems so far this term have seen timetables printed out and given to students, which have gone out of date, sometimes within minutes, with students turning up at the wrong building or two classes thinking they’re in the same room.
“Students missing learning sessions concern us the most,” adds Mr Dubrow-Marshall.
His thoughts are echoed by Ian McMillan, Director of Student and Academic Support Service. He said: “It’s a priority for us that students don’t miss out on teaching time and we will work with any of the schools affected to help if that’s the case.”

Other changes

But what about the other changes that have taken place this summer? The Student Portal and new e-mail systems have also arrived but students have struggled with them too.
“Love the way my UCLan email just refuses to work,” was one sarcastic criticism.
Mr Ahern says that the changes all come as a part of improving the student experience.
“We could’ve chosen not to deploy any one of them [timetable, portal, e-mail] but all three are vital to improving the student experience.
“If all three work perfectly our resources won’t be stretched. If one went wrong our resources are overstretched. We have received over 12,000 calls on the help desk about the new e-mail system. We’ve hired 20 extra staff for predicted peak times but it’s difficult to predic when peak times will be.”
The other change is the student portal which has had a light version launched this year, with a full version coming in 2012.
“What we did with the portal was that we decided in February, upon feedback from the Students’ Union, that we should design a portal for students to make life easier.
“To develop a full portal takes about two years but we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to get something in for this academic year. We decided to put into the portal everything that was already available for the start of the year. Over the next 12 months we can find out what students wanted so we can change it.
“We wanted to get it live so students could benefit from something in 2011/12.”

Forthcoming changes

However for now the timetabling system is the issue which students will want to see fixed in the forthcoming days.
“We appreciate that the interface wasn’t great so we’ve done everything we can to get a new look,” explains Mr Ahern.
“We’re not going to wait until it’s all finished until we release it because that would take until the second semester so we’re doing it in chunks.”
This starts with the new university’s own timetable interface which is replacing the imported one that came in the summer.
A statement will be released soon by UCLan, once again apologising for the disruption and problems caused by the timetabling system and giving further details of the upcoming changes.
“The majority have coped with it. It isn’t how we want it to be but students have great coping ability,” adds Mr Ahern.
“Everything we do is geared towards the student.”

Recent feedback of a student satisfaction survey has shown diverse results across UCLan.
Students of Electrical Engineering were unhappy with the punctuality of their feedback, with only 39% voting favourably. Only 58% of Building course students claimed that the academic support they received was adequate.
Geography courses were popular, with 90% of students saying that they were happy with the teaching they receive.
The schools that were ranked lowest are ESS (Education and Social Sciences) and BNE (Built and Natural Environment) and Social Work.
Learning and Information Services (LIS) scores well in the resources department. However it received the most complaints by text message during the survey.
Overall, UCLan exceeds the national average in every area in the Million+ group of modern universities.
Students, who took part of The National Student Survey (NSS), voted on standards of teaching, promptness of feedback and academic support amongst other areas. The survey aims to gauge responses from students in order to improve on the results they gave.
UCLan Students’ Union (SU) uses this data in collaboration with the university to effectively work out this issues affecting students and improve the standards of education.
The NSS is entering its seventh year and provides an opportunity to feedback on aspects of university life.
UCLan Students’ Union President, Michael Palmer, thinks that the results are very important to the university when improving education standards. He said:
“Both the university and Students’ Union undertake their own in-depth analysis of the data. The SU looks at the trends that are present in both the public and private data, to establish areas that have done well and those that are a cause for concern.
“Importantly, these areas can be broken down to such a degree that each course can be identified across the University. The union this year has looked at the 7 strands that are present in the NSS and Samantha Sandilands, Education Officer, is carrying out some excellent work in regards to the organisation and management of courses.
“This work relates to timetables, any postponed lectures and how efficient a lecturer communicates with students and each other. In the 2 previous years the Union has run a number of campaigns such as “the good, the bad the feedback” and the “quality of lectures” which provided recommendations to the university to implement. Of course we would welcome any feedback from students if they have any comments regarding their experiences in these topics.
“The NSS provides vitally important data. I say vitally important because the data tells us exactly where to concentrate the SU’s resources; on which topics to lobby the university to ensure your education and student experience here at UCLan meet your high demands.”
The course reps system is one of the most important tools within the university for improving life for students. Run by the education officer Sam Sandilands course reps and school reps are trained to present issues to lecturers and school heads. Students are advised that their first point of call if they have any issues with their course should be their course representative.

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