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Students 'must be told how many lectures they get for £3,000 fees'
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent1 Oct 2009
Universities will be forced to tell students how many lectures and classes they can expect amid fears that undergraduates are being cheated out of their £3,225 a year fees.
With many vice-chancellors demanding the power to charge even more for courses, universities must show students and parents that they will receive value for money, government funding chiefs said.
The warning follows concerns that British undergraduates receive less face-to-face contact with tutors than their counterparts overseas.
Students have become increasingly unhappy at how little teaching by qualified academics they get as fees have risen and debt levels increased.
In some cases students have not seen any academic for two years, with postgraduate students often hired to serve as cheap teachers. Undergraduates have protested over the issue at top universities including Bristol and Manchester in recent months.
A report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, which gives universities money for teaching and research, said tutors must spell out what students would get for their fees.
Experts led by Professor Colin Riordan, vice-chancellor of the University of Essex, said universities should publish how watchdogs rate the quality of their courses, and how satisfied students are with their studies.
While quantity of teaching time did not necessarily equate with quality of education, every university should detail the contact time, study hours, exam criteria and support from tutors that students would get, he said.
The report said: "Students should be able to easily find out what levels of face-to-face teaching time they can expect and how much personal study they will be expected to do. They should be able to compare information about different courses before deciding which to apply to."
The study investigated concerns that degrees have been dumbed down as more students receive firsts, and that the traditional classification system is not fit for purpose.
It called for an overhaul of exam standards monitoring to demonstrate that degrees are comparable between institutions. It also suggested replacing the divisions of first, second and third class with a more detailed report.
Oxford's new vice-chancellor has suggested elite universities should adopt Ivy League-style scholarships worth thousands of pounds to prevent working class students being put-off.
Andrew Hamilton, formerly provost of Yale , said more generous bursaries and scholarships would be crucial if tuition fees increased. "The commitment that we must make to them [is] that they will attend Oxford irrespective of their economic circumstances," he told the Guardian.
Ministers have hinted they could consider raising the £3,225 a year cap on undergraduate fees. A government review of fees is expected to begin later this year.
Reader views (1)
Quantity not quality? Same as everything else under this Labour government.
- Nigel, London, 01/10/2009 12:27
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