This summer, the University released a video-entry competition about students’ time at Sheffield.
The first prize was £3,000. All students had to do was compose a short 2-3 minute YouTube about their time at Sheffield.
There were a few stipulations. The video’s theme had to be the University’s motto: to discover and understand.
One entrant thought the best way to convey this would be through a spoof Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme tune rap. Sadly, he didn’t win.
The person who did, however, was Pól Gallagher from the School of Architecture, who produced an enjoyable three-minute picture of student life, with quite a clever animation. Congratulations, Pól, enjoy spending your winnings.
After all, £3,000 is a lot of money. It’s probably just enough to feed, clothe and entertain yourself for a year while at university.
But thankfully, in these times of plenty the University can afford to splash out on a few competitions with lavish prizes.
I mean, if the University had a £25million hole in their budget they wouldn’t fritter away £3,000 on a competition, would they?
If the University had just sacked five per cent of its staff, it wouldn’t just chuck three grand at a student for making a video, surely.
That would just be insulting to the staff and students having to put up with job cuts.
I’d hate to go to a university where those controlling the purse strings were that irresponsible.
Thank goodness I came to the University of Sheffield.
I suppose the reason behind the competition was to provide a little bit of relatively cheap advertising for the Uni, which is depressing.
Good universities don’t have to advertise. Every time I see universities advertising on telly, I want to vomit. The moment the University starts advertising is the moment it turns into Hallam.
Why not spend the £3,000 on a one-off bursary for a poor student so they can give up their part-time job for a year, and concentrate on their studies?
This would be a good news story for the University and, crucially, make a real difference.
It’s nice to know that students enjoy coming to Sheffield. It’s not nice to know that the Uni has spent £3,000 to find out.