鈥業 was especially worried about the loss of week 8鈥�
The uncertainty for students was the most frustrating part of the cyberattack if you ask Industrial Engineering student Pablo Vega. He took the initiative to gather all student concerns in a petition, which he presented to the university.
Vega noticed that the uncertainty hit students the hardest in the first days of the cyberattack. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen. Everyone discussed it in the WhatsApp groups of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering. What鈥檚 going to happen? What does this mean for the upcoming exams?鈥�
Petition
鈥淚 felt that students couldn鈥檛 easily contact the university. That鈥檚 why I started the petition鈥攖o give students a voice and work together on solutions. I gathered input from fellow students and combined it into a signed 375 times.鈥�
鈥淚 was invited by 果冻传媒 and Student Affairs (ESA) to discuss the situation for students. They wanted to know what more they could do for us. I noticed that they had already considered and acted on many of the concerns from the petition. That was great to hear.鈥�
Postponing exams
In the meantime, the decision was made to push the exam period back by a week. As a result, the teaching-free week (week 8) of the following quarter was canceled.
鈥淓veryone had to change their plans and make choices. Do you go on your planned vacation or take your exams? I had planned to visit my parents in Brussels that week, but I canceled. Brussels isn鈥檛 far, so it wasn鈥檛 a big issue for me.鈥�
Vega chose to focus on his exams and passed all but one. 鈥淐anvas was down, but luckily, I had downloaded all the content. The only issue was that I couldn鈥檛 complete the online quiz for one course. I鈥檒l have one resit at the end of this quarter. I will work extra hard this quarter so I don鈥檛 have to do everything at the last minute.鈥�
Concerns about week 8
Now that the dust has settled, Vega says the most significant concern among students is the loss of week 8 in the third quarter. 鈥淣ormally, no new material is introduced that week. It鈥檚 a time for students to study in advance and meet the deadlines for CBL projects. I think many students don鈥檛 realize how much extra work they鈥檒l have at the end of the quarter to make up for the upcoming lost week.鈥�
Learning from the attack
All in all, Vega believes the university handled the cyberattack well. 鈥淚t could have been much worse. The attack was successfully fended off, but I鈥檓 not sure we were prepared for the human impact. Students were left in uncertainty for a long time. I think we鈥檝e learned from that.鈥�