Universities want to put fees up

[sim667]

I find it rather frustrating - and I'm not having a go at you here: this is a general point - that the same tired old cliché keeps being trotted out, often by people with no experience and very little knowledge of what the job entails.

Just to point out that i do/have work in HE, and my family is from a background of working in HE..... (both parents, one on teaching side one on management (having worked in educational side at one point))

I suppose a lot of HE institutes are different.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

with figures like £5000 to £7000 a year being banded around, the BBC suggests that a student on a 3 year degree could end up £32,000 in debt.

It was the hot topic in the staff room at the college i work at today, so if the current fee cap is lifted, will student emphasis now be as a learner or a customer?

Will it make universties up their game? Or will we end up like america where you get a better result according to the price you pay to the university fund?

Sauce

I think students already think like that- as customers.. as well as learners

I can tell you I dont consider the standard of teaching and support at my university worth the fees students are charged now... I know Ive looked at one lecturer prattling on this year about poor attendance this year and thought "Im paying to sit here and listen to your bullshit, now shut up and teach- and if I dont turn up thats MY lookout, same as its someone elses if they dont... now instead of banging on about attendance to those present I'd like you to actually do what my fee is paying for rather than wasting any more time."

I think its a shame people think like that but the reality is they do.Esp when you are a student who is a mature student or who works or cant rely on family support- it rests more heavily on you

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

If all the 'getting bollocksed' people didn't go to uni as an excuse for 3 years off the parental leash, then the fees might not be neccesary.

I know that dude, I was just being facetious.

But I do think that Uni is a social experience as well as a mere educational one, otherwise everyone would just live at home while at uni.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I never thought of my degree as an investment in my future, I went there to learn stuff and meet people. In a culture where learning for its own sake is now viewed with deep suspicion, and where you have to borrow vast sums against future wealth (which, with so many graduates these days and a shrinking pool of jobs, is far from guaranteed) I don't think I'd have bothered going at all.

As for the 'getting bollocksed' crowd, my uni fell over itself to encourage that behaviour, largely because they were taking backhanders left right and centre from city nightclubs. Fucking shameful it was, I saw several people have total breakdowns in the first term just from the sheer amount of drinking. Money creeps into every aspect of university life if you let it, and it stifles creativity, independance and quality of education in the process. If this country is going to rebuild itself as anything remotely worthwhile on the world stage then we'll need talented young scientists, engineers etc and I worry that an increasingly marketised university system will spoil our chances of finding them.

If ever get around to doing my masters I'm going to do it in Switzerland.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

yes!!! get in there!!!1

fucking students!!!!!

 

[scifisam]

You also claim that your experience of unreliable tutors - which I agree is not acceptable - is 'the story at many universities.' I'd like to see some evidence to back that assertion up before I accept it, as well as an explanation of what you mean by a 'creative' university.

I don't disagree with you on any of the main topics here, but I do on this one.

From my undergraduate degree (with two stints abroad) and four postgraduate degrees (one uncompleted), I've studied at 7 universities in three countries. In all of them, it was difficult to get hold of tutors at any time whatsoever, no matter how long arranged in advance, no matter whether it was within their office hours, no matter how often they promised to meet you. One time I spent two whole days literally chasing my tutor around the university just to get his signature on a piece of paper. It was farcical.

I also teach two HE courses via two different universities, and know that part of the reason for such poor contact time (at least) is poor administration and overwork on the tutors' part. That doesn't mean it's OK. I'm surprised anyone who works at a university would dispute that tutors can be unreliable - seven different institutions as a student have made me believe that it's part of university culture.

 

[Roadkill]

<shrugs>

What can I say?

It's not good, but it's not my experience, having studied at and worked for four universities.