If you are a scholar and one of the old guard who pay the $3,000 a year tuition fee, I assume it doesn’t look too bad on the face of it.
So you are still precisely a consumer, but it could always be $9,000 a year you are paying, couldn’t it? Still, at long as you are receiving what you are paying for, then it’s all OK.
There is an assumption there – one that could perhaps fall flat on its face, thanks to a new details by the Which? Consumer group. In the newest set of bad news for the under-performing out there, a review of over 100 undergraduates found that there are still high levels of disappointment among students up and down the nation.
A third of respondents have told that their course did not show good value for money.
Most students were pleased with their academic experience, though three in 10 still rated their experience as poor.
Less than half of those in review said that they could explain their course as ‘demanding.’
45 percent of students thought that their seminars were really worth attending.
Naturally, this news has provoked which? To wonder if there is something that should be done in the form of regulation – if we treat other user commodities in that way then why not universities? You have guarantees and warranties and even consumer laws to protect you in different areas of daily life, so somewhat as expensive as university education seems to make sense also, right?
In reply to the less-than-great results we see above, Which? Show a few suggestions for a future set of regulations:
The head-line was this: if a university fails to meet consumer and academic standards, it would be much simpler for their degree-awarding authorities to be stripped. One will only suppose the red tape that you would have to go through to see this occur at the moment.
Universities should give more information to applicants – I am not sure completely what this denotes but one could see there needing to be more clearness on what several options are through your course and clearer presentation of events and what you will expect of a university.
There should be set rules for handling complaints from students who are not happy with some aspect of their course.
Universities, the umbrella body for organizations up and down the country, said that there had clearly been a raise in expectations thanks to the increase in tuition fees – ones that took place back in September 2012.
Certainly, there was not precisely much mention on if Universities UK felt that the prospect were being reached, but I guess a straight solution out of this is not going to come too effortlessly.
The news of the Which? Survey comes as another survey of students – this time of around 4,500 students – found some other attractive insights into university life.
58 percent of students had noted course modifications or fee increases since their course had started.
Somewhere around 20 percent of students had noted there being major increase in their course – including modules that were before advertised no longer being offered. There has been a proposal that the solution to this would be to make students and universities sign contracts to promise precise fees and course material – maybe a step in the right direction?
There does, thus, seem to be a reluctance to complain – 17 percent have had an issue with their course since the start of this academic year, though only half of those select to file a complaint. Why might this be?
Of those who did file a complaint about something, 58% were dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaints procedure -48% felt as though their complaint had been in some way ignored.
So, students barely painting the brightest picture in the world, a complaints system that does not actually hold up… time to be concerned?
Obviously, several diverse parties have waded into this – the National Union of Students (NUS) Vice President Megan Dunn argued that the market standard that’s being seen from universities is not working and has had some harmful effects. Thus, the contracts, market data and everything else being recommended might not be the best answer, she argues:
“The findings of this report should provide the champions of high debt and high fees pause to think again about the way they have undermined higher education status as a public good and willed on a generation of consumers. We require a change of course.”
Fair point, but I cannot see the fees varying any time soon – if we are going to be forced to be lumped with those then I believe contracts and forcing universities to guarantee several things and change inadequate practices does appear to be the first port of call.
Anything from Universities? Just the normal cut-and-paste reply from them, actually. Their Chief Executive Nicola Dandridge presented one of those useless sound-bites that make me wonder if they have actually read the report or not:
They are continuing to work hard to give prospective students with more information about what to guess from their courses”
Well, that does not actually address many of the problems, does it? It just looks like one of those standard replies, like Which? Somehow are on the ending of an annoying auto-responder. Their reply does not actually mention the report or acknowledge many problems– there’s just a little about unis giving us with some information now and again. You could prepare that in your lists. How about an apology or even recognizing that there are miserable students at the moment?
Why do I obtain the impression that nothing is going to modify? Yes, a powerful consumer group has handled to get behind students and the raw agreement that they have been known to get but without political support, are we going to actually see much? I have always called for more rules and regulation and some sort of guarantee for students in that they will get a fair deal for the whole of their course. Now online education and online tutoring become the substitutes for higher standards of universities.
Sensibly, it is going to take more than just a consumer report or two. Without some legal clout, universities and their council can keep their emails very much on the ‘holiday’ setting for now.
So you are still precisely a consumer, but it could always be $9,000 a year you are paying, couldn’t it? Still, at long as you are receiving what you are paying for, then it’s all OK.
There is an assumption there – one that could perhaps fall flat on its face, thanks to a new details by the Which? Consumer group. In the newest set of bad news for the under-performing out there, a review of over 100 undergraduates found that there are still high levels of disappointment among students up and down the nation.
A third of respondents have told that their course did not show good value for money.
Most students were pleased with their academic experience, though three in 10 still rated their experience as poor.
Less than half of those in review said that they could explain their course as ‘demanding.’
45 percent of students thought that their seminars were really worth attending.
Naturally, this news has provoked which? To wonder if there is something that should be done in the form of regulation – if we treat other user commodities in that way then why not universities? You have guarantees and warranties and even consumer laws to protect you in different areas of daily life, so somewhat as expensive as university education seems to make sense also, right?
In reply to the less-than-great results we see above, Which? Show a few suggestions for a future set of regulations:
The head-line was this: if a university fails to meet consumer and academic standards, it would be much simpler for their degree-awarding authorities to be stripped. One will only suppose the red tape that you would have to go through to see this occur at the moment.
Universities should give more information to applicants – I am not sure completely what this denotes but one could see there needing to be more clearness on what several options are through your course and clearer presentation of events and what you will expect of a university.
There should be set rules for handling complaints from students who are not happy with some aspect of their course.
Universities, the umbrella body for organizations up and down the country, said that there had clearly been a raise in expectations thanks to the increase in tuition fees – ones that took place back in September 2012.
Certainly, there was not precisely much mention on if Universities UK felt that the prospect were being reached, but I guess a straight solution out of this is not going to come too effortlessly.
The news of the Which? Survey comes as another survey of students – this time of around 4,500 students – found some other attractive insights into university life.
58 percent of students had noted course modifications or fee increases since their course had started.
Somewhere around 20 percent of students had noted there being major increase in their course – including modules that were before advertised no longer being offered. There has been a proposal that the solution to this would be to make students and universities sign contracts to promise precise fees and course material – maybe a step in the right direction?
There does, thus, seem to be a reluctance to complain – 17 percent have had an issue with their course since the start of this academic year, though only half of those select to file a complaint. Why might this be?
Of those who did file a complaint about something, 58% were dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaints procedure -48% felt as though their complaint had been in some way ignored.
So, students barely painting the brightest picture in the world, a complaints system that does not actually hold up… time to be concerned?
Obviously, several diverse parties have waded into this – the National Union of Students (NUS) Vice President Megan Dunn argued that the market standard that’s being seen from universities is not working and has had some harmful effects. Thus, the contracts, market data and everything else being recommended might not be the best answer, she argues:
“The findings of this report should provide the champions of high debt and high fees pause to think again about the way they have undermined higher education status as a public good and willed on a generation of consumers. We require a change of course.”
Fair point, but I cannot see the fees varying any time soon – if we are going to be forced to be lumped with those then I believe contracts and forcing universities to guarantee several things and change inadequate practices does appear to be the first port of call.
Anything from Universities? Just the normal cut-and-paste reply from them, actually. Their Chief Executive Nicola Dandridge presented one of those useless sound-bites that make me wonder if they have actually read the report or not:
They are continuing to work hard to give prospective students with more information about what to guess from their courses”
Well, that does not actually address many of the problems, does it? It just looks like one of those standard replies, like Which? Somehow are on the ending of an annoying auto-responder. Their reply does not actually mention the report or acknowledge many problems– there’s just a little about unis giving us with some information now and again. You could prepare that in your lists. How about an apology or even recognizing that there are miserable students at the moment?
Why do I obtain the impression that nothing is going to modify? Yes, a powerful consumer group has handled to get behind students and the raw agreement that they have been known to get but without political support, are we going to actually see much? I have always called for more rules and regulation and some sort of guarantee for students in that they will get a fair deal for the whole of their course. Now online education and online tutoring become the substitutes for higher standards of universities.
Sensibly, it is going to take more than just a consumer report or two. Without some legal clout, universities and their council can keep their emails very much on the ‘holiday’ setting for now.