Daylight-Saving Whoopsie Causes Timetable Disaster

Words by Ethan Manera (he/him)

Classes have been incorrectly displayed on some students’ timetables for the last month due to a technical balls-up involving daylight savings.

Many students have reportedly missed lectures and tutorials, causing them to fall behind in their work, after the time shown on their myTimetable was an hour later than the actual time of their class.

Jacquelyn, a third-year student, missed a lecture due to her timetable displaying the wrong time. She said the university needs to “sort their shit out”.

“I thought my class changed and started at 4:10 but it actually started at 3:10.” 

Jacquelyn said the lecture she missed included important material about an upcoming essay. “It was just annoying because it made me behind in the class [...] I had just fucked my day around for no reason.” 

“[The university] could've at least made it known to students that they were having issues with the timetable,” she said.

When questioned by ^Salient, a university spokesperson said the “Centre for Student Success was made aware of a timetabling issue on 3 April. [...] The issue was identified as resulting from the daylight savings change.”

“The vendor advised that an upgrade was required to resolve the issue and this work is underway (timing is still to be confirmed).”

“The university acknowledges the frustration this issue has caused for some students, but notes that the other tools used by the majority of students to view their timetables (Pūaha and myAllocator) are displaying the correct times.”

A spokesperson for VUWSA said they reached out to the university on 3 April after students had brought the issue to their attention. “The university said they'd be right on it,” they said.

VUWSA is urging students to contact their advocacy services if timetable issues have negatively affected study or submitting assignments, saying “our advocates are available for help on students' behalf. Email ^advocate@vuwsa.org.nz”