Was It For DIT?

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The new Dublin Institute of Technology campus at Grangegorman

Are you in the Dublin Institue of Technology?

Read on.

Anon writes:

“It has not been reported in the media about the disaster that is DIT Grangegorman. The new DIT campus was opened up in September 2014. Once opened, it became clear that nearly everything was wrong. The building was to house Art and Design students as well as social studies and others. The buildings were not ready.
In fact, it was not purpose built. Fine Art students had no space or walls to hang their work; Visual Merchandising are carrying mannequinns between there and Mountjoy square, they also have no space; photography students have no darkroom as of yet; Visual Communications students do not have up to date software on the college computers; there are not enough classrooms on campus; classrooms are too small and stuffy, the windows are painted shut so it makes it worse; there is a lack of security on site despite a number of safety incidents and concerns; as well as classes not going ahead because of lack of electricity and plumbing for the first few weeks; a canteen that overcharges for in my opinion substandard food; these are handful of the problems.
A forum was held yesterday between DIT students’ union, the students, and heads of school. The heads of school were on several occasions called out on their shortcomings and mistakes in planning. Morale in the college is low obviously. The tutors, technicians, and students are doing the best with what they have though. It is surprising this hasn’t been reported, especially since a number of TDs visited the college only a few weeks ago for photo opportunities. I hope you will be able to spread what is happening here. It would really be appreciated.”

Anyone?

Previously: NEW DIT Colony 

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81 thoughts on “Was It For DIT?

  1. 3stella

    Mounjoy sq was a horrible converted office block, the studios & darkrooms were all flimsy plasterboard cramped makeshift affairs in converted low ceiling rooms, na did us harm i’ll tell ya..

    1. Jimi

      Mountjoy squares darkrooms were designated for just fine art, and were rarely used when I was studying photography in Temple Bar, the facilities in Temple bar however, as much as we gave out about them at the time, were actually pretty good, good dark rooms, decent computer labs, and generously sized studios, which I presume are now office blocks while the photography course was stuffed into the remains of 100 year old building.

  2. Karl

    Thomas, it hasn’t been reported in the media because people in the real world could not care less if a few spotty students think their classrooms are a little on the small side.

      1. Karl

        If i question the insignificance of a school building’s classrooms being “stuffy” I’m bitter and over 40?

        Riggghttt.

        So, you’re, what, 22 and have never had a real job, I’m guessing?

        1. ahjayzis

          It’s not the questioning, it’s your tone towards these young whippersnappers with a legitimate complaint.

          It paints you as a curmudgeonly old prick.

          And 22 and not having had a permanent/pensionable job yet is the norm for many who go to third level, what’s the significance of that? Despite it showing your hankering for the days we’d send them down the mines at 14.

          1. ahjayzis

            I didn’t guess your age, I guessed your attitude. You’ve displayed the attitude of a bitter old miser trying to pull the drawbridge up behind them.

            When you pay for your education, as people do now, the least you expect is the facilities to accomplish your coursework.

      1. Karl

        Kill the Poor, I have 2 degrees. When I was studying them I wouldn’t go running to the media if a lecturer was late or if the classroom is small. Because that’s just silly.

        1. Kill The Poor

          Thats worse then Karl, so now the state has contributed to educating you it doesnt matter what our current students have to put up with.

          I realise you were probably trying to be pithy but it came across as callous and hateful, I’ll assume neither of your degrees were in comedy writing.

  3. Marklar

    The canteen could not be worse than that in Kevin Street canteen, I’d bet my life on it. This was always going to be a shambles, it’s the DIT way. In an email this summer they announced that they were trying to get university status by combining with Blanch and Tallaght IT, in the next paragraph they announced all the student shops were closing as one of the DITSU companies went into liquidation.

      1. Paul

        It really is. I was a student in Bolton street for a while and the canteen there was fairly decent.
        I have had hospital food that is nicer than the slop served in Kevin Street.

  4. epson aculaser c100

    BOOFUCKNHOO…

    Ye’d swear yer were homeless..

    “..The heads of government were on several hundred thousand occasions called out on their shortcomings and mistakes in solving this crises. Morale on the street is low obviously. The volunteers, social workers, and sick are doing the best with what they have though. It is surprising this hasn’t been reported, especially since a number of TDs visited the new hostel only a few weeks ago for photo opportunities. I hope you will be able to spread what is happening here. It would really be appreciated…”

  5. Joe Malone

    Should have better researched where ya went to university so Thomas. I’m sure the facilities didn’t dramatically change over night.

    1. Rep

      You do realise that it is brand new and only opened this Autumn don’t you? It even says it in the opening paragraph

      1. joe

        sura go crying to the unions so tisn’t anything that broadsheeters can help with, maybe the union are too busy being make believe politicians to help students these days.

        there is a lesson for students here, the world isn’t perfect sometimes ya gotta make do with what ya get. the same goes for jobs when ye qualify, there is no prefect job for ya it just doesn’t exist.

        also life isn’t fair so quit the moaning and get on with things.

        sorry i didn’t ir fully read it but it’s a waffly moan fest, thats ur fault not mine

  6. philip

    When i was doing my degree few years back. I went from 18 computers for 18 students in Ballyfermot Art College. To 3 Computers between 40 students in DIT Mounjoy sq…… DIT meh….

  7. Bejayziz

    There’s bound to some teething problems when converting historic buildings. Its commendable that they’ve taken to restoring the original structures which are beautiful and i would gladly have a smaller lecture room in one of those buildings over a massive room in a sterile office block like DIT Aungier Street,

    Raise your issue with the Student Union and bring it up in the meetings with the board and push to get the problems sorted as soon as possible, i’m sure theyre working on getting it sorted as we speak

  8. Starina

    Grangegorman was always a mess. I started in Aungier St in 2007 and they were saying we’d be moved to the Grangegorman campus before our degree finished…which was in 2011 – and no one was surprised that it never happened.
    The education standard at DIT is excellent; however, the administration there is a joke. (For example, they left Spanish on the CAO listing for my course apparently by accident, so on orientation day we were told that we could pick between French and Irish instead, of which I knew neither. Cue four years of kicking up a fuss every September so that they would organise a year’s worth of Spanish classes last minute, despite knowing we were there the whole time.)
    There’s no logic to the enormous use of resources and money for Grangegorman — what we were told was that it would be a more centralised campus designed for student ease, which is utter raiméis as the campus is a pain to get to for anyone coming on the DART and there are limited buses to the area. I think they wanted a unified campus just to look good compared to Trinity and DCU. ugh.

      1. Rep

        And it is easier to get to than UCD or DCU is for people using the Dart. It at least has the luas near to it.

    1. Niall Breslin superstar

      I started in dit back in 1996. They told us Grangegorman would be ready by 2000!!
      DIT – do it tonmorrow!!

  9. Disasta

    Terrible choice of site. Lots of students in the engineering dept commented on this from the start.

    Food was always terrible in any DIT I went to.

    Classes were always overfull and stuffy.

    So nothing has changed?

  10. JunkFace

    Well done the planning department! Another proud F*** up for Ireland. Looks like the people who planned all of this had no experience whatsoever with Art College students and the facilities needed to succeed on their courses.

    College students have rights.

    1. ahjayzis

      Ummm, the planners don’t do the fit out of buildings.

      The agency responsible for Grangegorman and their design team are the ones at fault.

      1. JunkFace

        I meant the planning department for DIT. The people who choose premises, facilities and design the courses you ninny! Not construction planners.

        in the name of Fup!

  11. jeanclaudetrichet

    Art this? Visual that? Shut up and make way for the engineers and the other useful people you entitled hippy.

  12. lenlen9

    Im currently up in grangegorman and the place is a shambles. I can categorically confirm everything that has been written in this piece. They’ve only ordered bins for the college this week but at least I have an automatically opening glass door that takes me longer to get in to the building then if I were to open it myself!

    1. Evenprime

      If only there was an enterprising engineering student nearby that knew how things worked to make it faster. Not hard

      1. kw

        Engineering students are not yet based in Grangegorman. Only 1000 students, those from mountjoy square, portland row and temple bar, have moved over. Think what a mess it will be when the 25,000 students are over in a couple years.

  13. Fifi

    I hate how half the comments here are saying that the situation in Grangegorman is acceptable. It’s really not. I’m a social care student and, although Mountjoy Sq. had its faults, I’d gladly return there over this hellhole. What with windows that don’t opens, drilling in the library during opening hours, and rooms so damp the paint is peeling, it’s a brutal environment place to study. And no matter how many complaints have been made nothing is changing. It’s stupid.

  14. Columbo's Missus

    The place obviously hasn’t changed much from my old Bolton St days. That place was a kip

  15. DIT Student

    Currently in Grangegorman this year, for my final year.
    Everything written is true, there is also not enough chairs in classrooms, no ATM machines on campus, canteen only takes cash (and its overpriced for canteen food), not many bins on campus (many people leaving rubbish), library lacks enough desk space, we need our student card to get into every building and doors inside buildings and many times the card’s won’t even work….the list goes on, and being in final year it is making things a little harder than they should be.

  16. johndit

    All iv seen you do on this thread is make snidey comments on peoples views. Are you in the dit board?

  17. Student

    As a current student in grangegorman, yes there are problems but it’s a pretty cool place. The studios are beautiful. The writer of the article is being a bit melodramatic. It’s new, and things aren’t in place yet. Calling bullshit on the vis comm complaints as the software was the same in mount joy. Don’t speak for other people. I know plenty of people currently in my class and others who like grangegorman. Going to the media is doing nothing but making your bitching seen online. There’s problems but the place just opened and anyone expecting things perfect is just plain stupid. I consider myself lucky to be in the place. Peace out x

  18. Lewis Rowe

    This is a pile of pox! It’s only fine art that have problems with grangegorman because they don’t have the mass of space they had in Portland row! Get over it. I ❤️ Grangegorman!

  19. Aoife

    I’m studying Vis Com in the new campus and I have to say I have very few complaints, I think the new campus is great. The place is still being built so there is bound to be problems. This comment was probably made by one individual, most likely fine art as their space is slightly smaller than their previous studio. Moaning about it online will do nothing so why even bother. And it’s so disappointing that someone spoke for other courses, the software is the exact same as it was so cop on and get over it. Some people are never satisfied.

  20. Student

    This is inappropriate and melodramatic complaint that isn’t justifiable. There are teething issues which staff have been notified about and are doing everything in their power to fix. It’s a brand new campus that’s only been open a few weeks and it was expected that there would be issues and frankly they aren’t that bad. The Fine Art students are having a hard time yes and that’s unfortunate that anyone should be, especially those in final year but this tirade against DIT (as well as voicing opinions from other groups) isn’t necessary and it makes the entire body of students seem ungrateful and frankly plain whiny.

    The grounds are beautiful and so are the converted buildings. The classrooms and corridors are never ever dirty, the food is freshly made and no more expensive than it was in Mountjoy Square. The studio are stunning with beautiful exposed red brick walls and moveable desks and chairs. The printers and library were up working immediately as well as classes in the gym and the fields and running track will be ready in a few weeks.

    Everyone knows what’s going on, no one is trying to hide the problems especially considering the turn out to the forum you mentioned. This rant was uncalled for and embarrassing. It’s about being patient and making helpful suggestions rather than going on the attack. The heads of DIT want to make this an amazing place for us to study and they’re doing the best they can so it’s important the students do too.

  21. Student

    I’m a student at Grangegorman, and I agree that there has been/is problems with the campus atm but they are nearly all minor minor things (such as lack of bins etc.) which are currently being dealt with or have already been solved. Of course theres going to be little things that need sorting when moving to a new campus, students who think every single thing should have been sorted before they got there are completely unreasonable and have their head stuck up their own arse – which pretty much covers most of the Fine Art students if not all of them (the college doesn’t revolve completely around you, stop making out as if these problems are a personal attack on you). For anyone to make out as if the new campus is a ‘disaster’ is pretty pathetic, the spaces are 10 times better than Mountjoy Sq., I don’t even mind the extra travel everyday, cus its worth it to go to that campus everyday :) Anyone who doesn’t go to the college don’t take the original complaint as fact – Fine Art tend to be hugely over-dramatic on most matters.

  22. Eyesontoast

    Big grand campus or not it’s all subjective, I love it I hate it etc etc, the reality is that the campus lacks basic practicalities but yet has unnecessary extras, or if one were to be dramatic, extravagances. It should be all developed with seamless studies as the priority, after all it’s a college. but it seems to me that DIT or whoever is running the show have put too great an emphasis on the cosmetic side of things. This is more than likely in efforts to keep up appearances, it’s style over substance I’m sorry but it is. If there is a leading grande glass enterence and a lack of course necessities, odds are somebody made an error in judgment and should make reparations. The students have a right to be angry and if bitching about it doesn’the change things drama will unfold. Or shit will hit the fan if you prefer.

  23. Latitude

    As a final year student at Grangegorman I have no real issues with this campus – right now there are some teething problems that need to be taken care of, but it’s well on its way to being a great campus. I think it’s great that the different art and design faculties are more or less under one roof. I never used the studios after classes in Mountjoy Sq. but I’m more inclined to now. The library is providing more services then it did in Mountjoy Sq. with laptop lending, and apart from the printers having a few malfunctions – which I think have been sorted – and the canteen being a bit too expensive, I really like being here. The software needing updating is the same issue we had in Mountjoy Sq. It’s only been 5 weeks since we started here – not long enough for all niggles and snags to be be sorted – so maybe a bit of latitude is called for.

  24. Second year student

    I’m in second year (not Fine Art!) and I honestly think that this article is a tiny bit OTT. But DIT Grangegorman does have it’s problems.

    1) No ATM – I can understand that while the banks won’t put one in as there is not enough students to satisfy an ATM, the canteen doesn’t even accept card.
    2) There is nothing, and I repeat NOTHING, to do on campus. Where have all of the pool tables gone from Mount Joy Square? The student area sits empty, and anyway, there’s only a row of chairs and sofas facing each other. DIT are all for ‘The City is Our Campus’, but there’s nothing around the vicinity to do (About a 15 minute walk to the nearest convenience store).

    Being in Grangegorman now, it seems we are scapegoats to make it look like DIT finally got the ball rolling. Grangegorman was supposed to be completely finished mid 2000s? We’re in restored, old buildings that only began work in the last two years or so.

    Now while the campus is picturesque, the pitches and running track are almost finished and we have a shiny new gym – I think I would rather have been in MJSq. for another year or so. Atleast everything in the city was a busride away.

  25. Student

    We shouldn’t have been used as the guinnepigs for seeing how grangegorman goes. Be it if you like it or not, there are problems and as students we should stand togthere.

  26. DrDebaser

    The point is that some of the ‘lucky’ arts students are in 3rd year. They have a degree to work towards no time to worry about an ever growing list of snags and difficulties that should be managed by DIT. It seems as if someone at DIT decided – we will drop the arts guys into Grangegorman and let them find the problems for everybody else. It’s not good enough, it’s not fair and it’s all too common of some attitudes I have noticed amongst those ‘in charge’. Student reps seem to have been included in the initial discussions just so someone could write that they were present. No notice was taken of their feedback . It’s a college with no Student shops ( to buy a pen ,paper y’know for maybe taking some notes) The room booking service is already overbooked -there are enough rooms. The canteen closes at 4 ish so some classes never get access to hot food or if you are around at open time the queue is so long it’s crazy. Construction noise drowns out discussions and there’s so much more. Would it have been better to get the whole thing up , running and working before making some students move to Grangegorman . It will get worse before it gets better.

  27. Katie

    Hello, if you are a student at Grangegorman and share the views expressed in this post or indeed disagree with these views I would greatly like the opportunity to speak with you briefly for an upcoming article in The College View. If you are interested in bringing this issue to the press contact me via email at katie.oneill29@mail.dcu.ie or dm me on Twitter @_Katie__ONeill Thank you! :)

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