Why?

The workload and pressure is high on students for a number of reasons. The credit system and the move toward semester system has tended to increase workload Under the credit system every paper becomes important; weak papers can't be averaged out by strong papers any more. As every paper is important the pressure is on all the time.

Continuous assessment throughout the term has put more emphasis on every item of work being of a reasonable standard. It was pointed out that students create a lot of this pressure for themselves. They have always treated study as a competitive race for scarce grades which requires that everyone compete with maximum labour so as to be one of the lucky individuals who pass

Many of the requirements of departments in relation to work are trivial red tape which increase pressure. These include attendance requirement, term requirements, word limits on essays and marks being deducted for things not relating to the quality of the work.