What's Wrong with University: And How to Make It Work For You Anyway

Students invest a lot of time and money in a university education but all too often don''t get what they came for. This book addresses the most pressing concerns for undergraduate students and helps them cope with the university system. The author illustrates that a university has five distinct functions, which are often in conflict with each other; students often find themselves with different goals and motivations than their peers and with institutional features designed around the needs of those other students. As a result they are frequently frustrated by their experiences. This guide explains how a university really works and provides advice on how all students can overcome these internal conflicts to get what they most want from the university experience.

Jeff Rybak is a former students'' union vice president of academics and, within campus governance, a former chair of the academic committee at the University of Toronto-Scarborough. He spent many hours counseling students on how to deal with all aspects of the university and was responsible for the production of several resources for students, including three editions of the campus "Anti-Calendar." Jeff is currently a director on the board of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and lives in Toronto, Ontario.