Year two electrical and computer engineering students at UWI's’ St Augustine campus are not satisfied with the plans for their end-of-semester exams, which will be held in a physical format.

The students, about 80 of them, met with the head of the department, the campus registrar and the dean of the engineering faculty on Wednesday to have their concerns addressed.

However, several told Newsday they were not satisfied, as the meeting did not solve their concerns.

Given the rise in covid19 cases, the students say their safety and that of their families were being put at risk.

Earlier this week, Bridget Ramroop, the representative for the Engineering Society in the Guild of Students, wrote to the head of the examination board as well as other senior officials at UWI on behalf of the year two students.

Students from year one-four also have the same concerns over in-person exams.

In the letter, Ramroop said throughout the semester they were under the impression all exams would be held online, as they had been since the start of the pandemic in TT in March last year.

She said on November 18, students outside TT were told there would courses for which examinations would be done in a physical format.

Ramroop said after raising the issue with the head of the department, students were told the decision was solely dependent on the board of examiners, which was awaiting approval from the Ministry of Health.

She said local students were not contacted and received no formal notice from the university’s administration.

The guild’s representative said on December 5, students received an e-mail saying one of their exams will be held physically on December 15.

Ramroop reminded that university guidelines say all examination announcements must be made two weeks before the date of the exam, so, since they were only told ten days before, “That notice is void, since it does not meet the 14-day requirement.”

She also said there has still been no confirmation of whether exams on two other courses will be held physically, and “We, the student body, would like to be informed of this decision almost immediately, preferably with at least two weeks’ notice...

“This period has caused the student population an enormous degree of stress and during this period of uncertainty we are placed (under) an even higher degree of stress and inconvenience.”

Ramroop said other departments at the university were having online exams and “it is unfair that we should be exposed to the public and risk our lives in light of the rising number of new and active cases, as well as deaths each day.”

In her letter, Ramroop said students were concerned because the country was in its third wave of covid19 and the situation now was even worse than during the semester when they were present on campus for laboratory exercises, which were done safely in small groups.

She also said a major percentage of the country was unvaccinated and far from meeting the requirements of normality, as there are still pandemic restrictions in place.

“Student