新寫稿
( 2003-09-25 09:03)
E-bookings leave poor in the cold
Guangxi University has taken the lead in online dorm bookings, providing the
service for 5,000 freshmen this term.
It had a noble purpose: convenience
for the campus newcomers. However, it seems things took a turn in the wrong
direction.
On September 9, the enrollment day, the on-campus dorms were
somewhat in chaos and flooded with complaints.
Students and parents could be
heard asking for reassignments.
The e-booking system required students to go
to a school website to choose university housing before August 28.
Dorm fees
range from 250 to 1,000 yuan (US$30-120) per academic year.
Students were
told to log onto the website, sign in with a number that was on their enrollment
notice, and click on a dorm preference.
It wasn抰 supposed to turn out the way
it did.
揥e hoped to provide better services for students and to give people
with different economic conditions a greater say in where they chose to live.
The new method also helped to reduce labour and operating costs for housing
staff,?explains Ye Junfei, of the student affairs department, which came up with
the service idea.
But it posed problems for students from poor
families.
揑t is almost impossible for us poor students to benefit from the
service. We have no access to the Internet in our villages, so how can we choose
the dorm we want online??complained Ge Li, from Hunan Province, who is about to
start her freshman year as a Chinese major.
In fact, the school does accept
bookings done by telephone and mail, but most dorm rooms were booked through the
online service.
By the time Ge arrived, there were only 800- to 1,000-yuan
(US$96-120) rooms left. The cheaper rooms had all been booked. Her peasant
parents could only afford a 250-yuan dorm.
In the past, room assignments
depended on individual departments. Some departments just did it arbitrarily,
while others tried to match student interests or preferences based on
registration forms.
Newcomers in the same department were usually assigned
to the same living space.
Then, the online service came along and changed
that.
Dan Yan, an English major, lives with three students majoring in
Chinese, law, and administration and has this to say: 揗y roommates are all kind
and friendly. But I抎 still like to live with my classmates so we could talk
about our classes and professors.?Guangxi University was a pioneer in the online
service, but the head of the student affairs department admits that it 搘as
useful, but still in need of improvement.?The university said it would open more
phone lines for poor students and leave some different-priced rooms open for
possible switches when students moved in.
Some people see the sense of the
new service, but still think that 搒chool authorities should consider
students?conditions and concerns before putting a new service in place,?says Li
Yanfei, head of Renmin University抯 Communist Youth League.
In the United
States and Britain, freshmen are assigned a dorm room by the university housing
office when they apply, while sophomores, juniors and seniors are not guaranteed
a room. They can add their names to a list if there are future openings. They
can also list a preference, for a non-smoker, for example.
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