NEWS - Hundreds Forced To Travel To QUB For In-Person Exams
Hundreds of students will travel to Queen’s for the Institute of Professional Legal Studies (IPLS) entrance exams next month. The exams will take place in-person on April 14.
It is only by attending the IPLS that students can qualify as a barrister or solicitor.
Queen’s refused to confirm how many students would be sitting the exams, simply stating that it would be “similar to recent years”.
According to estimates from former examinees, recent year’s figures range from 350 to 650 students.
The IPLS, a branch of Queen’s, has organized no back-up examination date, no online option and no accommodation for applicants travelling from the UK or Ireland.
IPLS say that “a full risk assessment has been carried out in accordance with PHA guidelines and the required adjustments have been put in place on campus”.
“The safety of the applicants and staff is our priority”.
Whilst applicants have been encouraged to avail of the University’s free asymptomatic testing facility, this not mandatory.
This is despite most Covid-19 restrictions only starting to ease from April 1 and cases rising across much of Europe.
However, exemptions to the restrictions are permitted for educational purposes.
The IPLS has organized no back-up examinations for students who are forced to isolate on the date of the exams.
One student, Grace, told The Scoop she was concerned that applicants would ignore a positive Covid-19 result in order to take the exams.
“I find it hard to believe that anyone would throw away a waiting training contract, waste the application fee, plus hundreds of pounds of tuition expenses, to miss the once a year chance to do the exam.
It’s an outrage that students have to choose between their futures and public health.”
Students are paying a fee of up to £320 for the tests which have already been rescheduled from December 2020.
The exams are ‘paper-based’ and must be completed in-person
There is also no online option for sitting the exams. Students who are vulnerable, or who’s families are vulnerable, to Covid-19 will not be exempt from sitting the tests in-person.
“The lack of reasonable accommodation for shielding candidates is a disgrace”, said Grace.
“There’s something really ironic about the fact that the place which trains future lawyers is directly discriminating against candidates who are shielding due to disabilities.”
According to the IPLS, “The Admissions Test is a competitive exam. It is not appropriate for it to be undertaken remotely.”
A former examinee, Mark, however, told The Scoop, “Having done the test myself, I’m really surprised it can’t be completed online.
This is adding so much stress to an already stressful experience.”
Numerous applicants have questioned why, over a year into the pandemic, the IPLS has not been able to develop appropriate online examinations.
The Law Society of Ireland, on the other hand, managed to offer an online entrance test in November.
“Sitting an exam in person during a pandemic is utter madness”, said another applicant, Sarah.
The IPLS have told students in need of accommodation to contact the Tourist Information Centre
“I’ll be spending more time with strangers in an exam hall than I have with family or friends all year.”
The exams can be sat by students from across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the UK, all of whom must travel to Queen’s on April 14.
The first test start at 9:30am and the second finishes at 3:30pm, meaning that a single day-trip to Belfast is not feasible for students traveling from further afield.
These students will not be offered accommodation.
Instead, the IPLS has directed applicants in need of accommodation to the Tourist Information Centre, despite hotels only operating on a “restricted basis.”
“The whole IPLS experience has been a bit of a nightmare to be honest”, confessed Sarah.
“I spent nearly £500 in registration and tuition fees only for the original exam to be cancelled, then rescheduled with hardly any notice.”
Grian Ní Dhaimhín, Queen’s University Belfast Students' Union President, told The Scoop, “Public health and the welfare of students must be the priority for the organisers of IPLS entrance exams.
We would encourage the Institute to take a flexible approach and accommodate those students who may be particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 or who have to travel to sit the examinations.
No student should be disadvantaged by the pandemic.”
Thomas Copeland, Head of News.
Some names may have been altered in order to protect their anonymity.