Last updated: 13/05/08
Manchester dissertation debacle

Students at Manchester had their dissertation deadline and word count changed just days before the work was due in.

Third-year Religion and Theology students were sent a single-line email informing them the deadline would be one day earlier due to a ‘typo’ on the course page.

On enquiring whether the rest of the information provided was accurate the astonished students were informed that their footnotes were now to be included in the final word-count, leaving them with just under three days to make the changes.

“Personally, I ignored [the new word count],” said Jennie Killip, who had to cut a massive 3,000 words from her dissertation.

“It was just too late to change it, it would absolutely have affected the quality of my dissertation.”

Adding to the confusion on the day of the new hand-in another note was sent to students saying that those handing their work in on the original hand-in date would not receive a late penalty.