This website was set up so that anyone considering applying to the Queen’s University Belfast Master’s in Applied Cyber Security would have an understanding of our experiences as students on the course and know what to expect.
Great lengths were made to ensure that anything posted here is backed by evidence. As explained in the recently posted FAQ, we have plenty of documented evidence of everything mentioned on this site and that we have spent great effort to exclude anything that cannot be backed up with documented evidence.
As I’m sure you can imagine, this means we have had to exclude a lot of what has happened to students because not all situations are well documented.
Queen’s lecturers are in the news at the right now for complaining that their freedom of speech is under attack, that they are being prevented from speaking their opinions:
“The University and College Union (UCU) said they were aimed at gagging academics, especially over Brexit.”
“In a strongly worded statement, the UCU branch at QUB criticised “wholly unfair and worryingly authoritarian attacks on local academics’ right to voice free opinions” — UCU, speaking to BBC
It seems only appropriate to provide some context to show that lecturers at Queen’s are not themselves immune from attempting to silence the free speech of others with whom they vehemently disagree with.
While we have received many comments of support from current and past students and even some faculty, something which has gone undisclosed until now is that one of the students was specifically targeted by the administration in an official complaint which one can only assume was aimed at silencing students’ unhappiness with course delivery. The official complaint claimed:
“Persistent personal targeting member of staff by the student via a complaint and via a published blog made by the student about the MSc Cybersecurity degree compounded by the promotion of the blog via LinkedIn”
The evidence provided was a screenshot of a LinkedIn post where a student shared a link to a post on this website, and a series of emails and documents where the student had documented issues which students were having as far back as November 2017 and had reached out to the course director (Dr. Kieran McLaughlin) to address the perceived problems with the course.
Something that should also be addressed here, should it ever be under question — this website is a collaborative effort. There is not a single author.
The complaint was made in reference to section 3 of the Queen’s University Belfast Conduct Relations, and the student was refused the opportunity to bring legal representation to the meeting with the investigating officer.
So, to summarise:
A student who regularly communicated with QUB staff about issues with the course was targeted by the administration with an official complaint which came with it the threat of expulsion, for the crime of communicating those very issues to the administration and having those communications used as evidence of ‘persistent harassment’.
One must reflect on the motivations of faculty who perceive communicating issues with a course, and its delivery, as little more than harassment. It makes one wonder what they perceive their role as educators to be, if when presented with issues, instead of addressing them, view them as a personal attack. It certainly explains, in my view, much of the reality of how the course is run, if when students speak up, they run the very real risk of expulsion.
In light of current news, it seems rather hypocritical to cry out that one’s own personal free speech is being trampled on, whilst at the same time lecturers at the same university are actively engaging in efforts that can easily be argued is an attempt to silence decent by the student body against the administration.
For the full story about Queen’s University and how there is a pattern of blame-shifting and passing the buck all the while failing to deliver on their most basic of responsibilities, read part 1 of our series on the students experiences.
If you are a student at Queen’s please tell us your story by contacting us.
