17/05/2012

Uni Fees Treble But No Extra Teaching Time

Researchers have said that students received no extra teaching time at England's universities since tuition fees trebled.

A study of 9,000 students, carried out by the Higher Education Policy, found no change in their experiences since fees rose from £1,000 to £3,000 in 2006.

It comes as universities are about to treble fees again to a £9,000 maximum.

Universities UK said the extra money had gone on improving libraries, IT facilities and other aspects of student life as well as improving teaching.

The institute found that in 2012, the seventh year of higher fees, students reported an average of about 14 hours scheduled teaching per week - almost the same as it was in 2007.

But this is as low as seven hours a week in some disciplines.

The report concludes that there has been no change in the "provision made for students" as a results of fees trebling.

Report author, Bahram Bekhradnia said there were messages for the coming higher fees environment, when student fee income will begin to replace much of the teaching grant.

"Universities are in a very different position now," he said.

‪"Students are coming in with greater demands and they will find it very difficult to meet these demands because most are not going to get any more money than they have at present. For most it looks very much like a lose, lose situation.”

(H)




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