An emergency meeting was called in the Economics faculty yesterday, after 20 students were left without supervisors for a final year paper.

Of 100 students who subscribed to the Part IIB Public Economics paper, 55 were not allocated supervisions by their College, resulting in random lottery to choose which 35 would receive teaching. Those students whose names were not "picked out of a hat" were told to try their best to secure a supervisor with their Director of Studies.

After protest from College officials, however, the Faculty decided it would provide classes for all 55 economists who had not had supervisions arranged. These will be taught in classes of ten or more students, whilst those provided supervisions by their College will be taught in groups of three to five for the paper.

The crisis was the result of huge oversubscription, which made it almost impossible to provide enough teaching for students. Although always a popular choice, the Public Economics paper usually attracts 65 students compared to this year’s 100.

Rupert Harrison, a third-year Economist from Sidney, was one of those told he could not be supervised. He spent this week emailing his college and the Faculty in pursuit of teaching for the paper.

"I feel like we’ve been really screwed over in the past few years," he said. "One supervisor, for example, taught us the wrong thing for a year.

"For Cambridge University not to have the facilities to give students supervisions just isn’t on."

In a statement yesterday, a University spokesperson said that, for the last 6 years, Faculty PhD supervisors had been provided for undergraduates whose colleges could not arrange teaching for optional papers. This year, however, "an unexpectedly large number of students chose to take the Part IIB course in Public Economics causing excess demand for supervisions from the one available PhD supervisor.

"To accomodate the large increase, the Faculty has stepped in to provide classes for the students who were left without a college or PhD supervisor."

According to Economics Lecturer Hamish Low, however, a shortage of funds may have exacerbated the difficulty in finding supervisors for students.

Low, who is currently on leave from Trinity, said that the Economics Faculty had warned Directors of Studies of potential cuts as early as last year.

"Over the last five years or so there’s been an increase in the amount of supervision organised within the Faculty, by teaching fellows or PhD students," he said.

"For these supervisions, as well as the £20 or so paid by the college, the Faculty provided a supplement; when this was no longer available neither were the teachers needed to supervise extra students, whom College arrangements couldn’t accommodate."

 

The situation was disappointing even for students who were initially picked out of the ballot, and who will now be taught in classes rather than supervisions. Som Saran, another Sidney Economist, was disappointed at the larger groups he was to be taught in, saying the situation was "obviously detrimental to the whole supervision idea".

"Ten people is clearly very different to the four or five we’d usually get." He said. "It might feel weird having to speak in front of so many people."

Other students were sympathetic to the situation. One third-year sitting the paper said the ballot was "probably the fairest way of allocating places", calling the situation "impossible". At the time Varsity went to press, the news that all students would be taught in classes had not yet been announced publicly.

Whilst the incident, as the University has stressed, was primarily caused by an unprecedented surge in applications, it raises concerns about wider funding problems. Last year a similar situation occurred and students also had to be taught in large classes.

Speaking exclusively to Varsity, Dr Low held the larger issue to be a "smaller allocation of resources for Social Sciences departments that has left several faculties, including Economics, facing substantial deficits.

"The Faculties need to make up for these deficits in various ways, such as in cutting the subsidy for extra supervisors which has resulted in the shortfall of supervisors that we have seen," he said.

"We need a debate about whether the deficits driving these cuts are real or whether they are generated by the particular prices used for allocations.

"At the end of the day, this is really a College issue: if we want the supervision system to carry on, Colleges need to invest in the system, and by this I mean be willing – and able – to pay the necessary rate for the supervisions needed by the students they admit" he said.

Dr Toke Aidt, the Public Economics course co-ordinator, said Colleges had enough money to pay for supervisions, and that a real shortage was the problem.

"It is more a case of supply and demand," he said. "PhD students get paid £70 for teaching an MPhil student, but for an undergraduate only about £40. If they’re going to teach undergrads it’s preferable to teach first-year groups simple subjects which don’t need much preparation, rather than finalists which require more work to teach."

Other Social Sciences faculties have not reported similar difficulties. The Law Faculty told Varsity, "The organisation of law supervisions is a matter for Directors of Studies and colleges. We are not aware of any particular difficulties this year."

Teaching Committee Chairman Ken Coutts described the situation as "a very difficult decision to take."

What we are trying to do is help Colleges to secure teaching in various ways, through making more supervisors available and providing more information," he said.

Further details for the classes will be announced on Monday.