Sing-Sing student office closes
Fewer and fewer students visiting and rising costs for premises. These are two of the reasons why the ITM school is closing the Sing-Sing student office on 1 November.
The Sing-Sing student office used to be an important hub for students who had questions or needed help with course registrations or handing out exams. Teachers in need of support managing exams were also lent a hand. Over time, the number of visits has decreased, especially after the pandemic when many students switched to digital services. Today, the office has become an expensive and desolate affair:
"Nowadays, I meet maybe two students a day," says Christer Lindholm, who has been manning the office for 22 years. "It's not at all like it used to be and the working days can easily become boring.”
Consequently, the Sing-sing office will close on 1 November. Students are referred directly to the study counsellors in the corridor on floor 2 or to the central student support on the web.
New routines awaits the exam administration, previously managed from the office. Christer will be part of a pilot project for centralised management of exams. In OpenLab's old premises, he and colleagues will develop new joint processes for all KTH, including joint printing, packing and delivery of exams.
The student office has also played a role for employees, but Annika Lilja, Service Manager at the ITM school, believes that the change will be undramatic:
"Nowadays there is very little support at the counter. Most employees already prefer to contact us by email, telephone or via web forms. But some processes will change. For example, the parcels will be redirected to Office Nord, and caretakers will deliver them to Sing-Sing on a daily basis.”
Service center will take over the old student office, and transform the area into an office landscape. This means that employees can still drop by to pick up parking stickers and borrow access cards, SL cards and electric scooters. But for optimal service, it is best to email beforehand so that someone is guaranteed to be there.
"The move to a brighter and better room will be a boost," says Annika. "And the school saves money because we can cancel their old office room.”
Text and photo: Ulrika Georgsson