Disgruntled staff at Queen Margaret University (QMU) have revealed that disputes over the timetable are threatening to leave the institution with “no fully workable timetables at the start of term,” with the potential to disrupt the planned start of classes on 22 September.

In an internal e-mail to senior staff leaked to The Journal by an individual or group named "happystaff happystaff," the Vice Principal for Learning & Teaching, Professor David Kirk, and Director of Estates and Facilities, Steve Scott, wrote: “It is recognised that the completion of timetables is mission critical. The university is getting nearer to the situation whereby there are no fully workable timetables at the start of term.”

When contacted by The Journal, senior lecturing staff at QMU declined to provide any details regarding the nature of the dispute.

The recipients of the message—one of whom was responsible for passing it on to the Journal—were all senior staff, including school deans and managers.

Calling on staff to respect the university’s administrative decisions and policy, the email continues: “We would...urge that you communicate the key points of this message to your staff as soon as possible in order to support the activities required to resolve the position.

“The actions outlined below are intended to address this situation and require the full backing and support of staff.

“They are not intended to address all the problems associated with the production of timetables within the new estate.

“These are complex and long running and from experience we know will take time to resolve. That is why they are being considered as part of a 2-3 year development plan.”

While stating that “this message is intended to present an overview of the salient points only,” the message does state: “The problems arise from the application of agreed university policies and procedures and not from the timetabling software and its capabilities.”

The message goes on to list as the primary reasons for the scheduling conflict that “staff wish to add or change previously supplied data,” and that “staff do not accept the outcomes of the timetable policy and procedure.”

When presented with the leak, Mr Kirk declined to answer The Journal’s questions; however, the university did provide a statement on its scheduling difficulties.

“As is usual at this time of the year, we are working through a number of timetable modifications in order to make improvements to the student timetable.

“Most students now have a fixed timetable for the new semester and we are now working through a small percentage of outstanding issues which we aim to resolve within the next few weeks.”