Past papers back online after ‘technical difficulty’
Past exam papers across subjects have been reinstated on Camtools, after reports of ‘lack of funding’ were contradicted by a university spokesman
It has been revealed that the online copies of past exam papers taken down this month after funding issues, are now back online.
The exam papers were originally believed to have been taken down after a “lack of funding”, however, a university spokesperson has said to Varsity that the absence was due to a “technical problem”, and all departments’ past papers have been reinstated to the site.
The issue was raised after History of Art students were alerted to the removal during the Easter break, when an email was sent out by the Digital Services Curatorial Coordinator.
An email from Gareth Burgess, Kings College’s librarian, then revealed that other subjects would be affected as the JISC-funded exam papers site had been taken down.
The email then stated that the website, which was run by CARET (the University's Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies), "had not been updated since 2012" and "contained papers for all subjects, not just History of Art, so this move will affect a large number of students, particularly undergraduates".
Students were encouraged to consult catalogues of print copies of past papers for their revision. In aid of this, both CUSU and the campaign group Whose University? expressed intent to create a complete catalogue accessible for all those affected.
In a statement to Varsity, a representative of Whose University? said: “It’s really important in situations like this to show departments that you don’t need money to share resources like this - we are doing it for free and proving there is an alternative”
However, the past papers have now been re-uploaded onto the site, which is accessible through CamTools.
Contradicting earlier explanations for the removal, a university spokesperson said to Varsity: “The site has not been taken down. Following reports from users that they were experiencing issues with access to the site the matter was investigated.
“There was a technical problem on the server which has been resolved."
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