If you’re graduating this year, chances are you are within the first group of students who will have paid £9,000 a year for their degree. With a number of students reporting low levels of satisfaction with regard to quality of teaching, low contact hours, and a lack of module choices, many have been left questioning: what am I paying for and is it worth it?
Her Campus investigates…
With only 20 weeks of teaching across the year, the typical student is paying £450 a week in tuition fees. For arts and humanities students, the average number of contact hours per week is just 10. If you’re in this boat, for every hour of lecture, seminar or tutorial you have scheduled, whether you attend or not, you’re paying £45. And, it seems this may not just be the case for humanities students. One maths student equally reported having just 10 hours per week contact time. When asked whether they thought it was worth it, they said, ‘not really’, and described the tuition fees as ‘ridiculous’.
Despite being guaranteed a minimum number of contact hours, it seems some students are not receiving them. Bella,* a recent graduate, told Her Campus, ‘in reality, my average number of weekly contact hours was about 5. Lectures often finished early and some were even cancelled.’ Whilst some students reported that contact hours had been increased in their subjects, others felt this hadn’t really changed anything, with one student stating, ‘this has only resulted in unnecessary things being scheduled, such as compulsory discussion forums which don’t really involve any teaching’.
It seems that a low number of contact hours isn’t the only problem. Several students reported that even within these contact hours, the quality of teaching was poor, or in some cases simply absent. Emma,* a history student, told Her Campus that for one particular module, the lecturer had not only reduced the length of seminars but had also made them entirely student run. She added, ‘when you go to University and are not even taught by the lecturer, it is hard to understand what you are paying for.’ Additionally, Stacey,* a music student, reported taking a 20 credit research seminar last spring and being taught by the lecturer on just three occasions. She added, ‘I know it’s important to learn to do research independently but it’s an expensive way to learn when you could go to a library outside the university and do pretty much the same thing for free’.
For other students, difficulties understanding lecturers seemed to be an issue. One psychology student commented, ‘in a lecture theatre with about 400 students in, it can be really heard to hear what the lecturer is actually saying; some of them speak really quickly and it’s really hard to take it in.’ Another stated, ‘they all clearly know their stuff, but some of them can’t communicate their knowledge in a way that helps us understand.’ Disorganisation was also a common problem in responses, with students noting that lecturers were sometimes late, had technology issues or in one particular case, forgot to turn up entirely.
A lack of module choices also appeared to be an issue for some students. One student described how modules which had been advertised when they applied to the university were now no longer on offer, and another explained that due to small numbers of students on their course, some of the proposed modules were undersubscribed and had to be cancelled. Having to pay for additional extras, such as text books and printing on top of tuition fees equally caused concern. One student said, ‘I don’t know how they can justify charging that much, especially when you consider all the things that aren’t included.’
Whilst a number of students shared their concerns over the quality of teaching, overall, students still felt coming to university was worth it. One student commented, ‘you get out of it what you put in. I think your degree is just one aspect of University.’ Several others highlighted the importance of extra-curricular activities and student societies with one stating, ‘I think all the extra opportunities you are given at University are worth almost as much as a degree itself, and I guess that’s partly what you’re paying for.’ Another student agreed, ‘It’s more about the experience as a whole, there’s nowhere else where you could try out as many new things or meet as many new people and I think you have to make the most of that.’ However, for those who see their degree as their central priority, the issue may still remain…
*Names have been changed to protect anonymity
Image sources
http://www.foreignstudents.com/category/news/tuition-fees
Edited by Jayde Richards