Vice-chancellor Michael Farthing suggests tuition fees increase to £7,500

The Vice Chancellor at the University of Sussex, Michael Farthing, warned last week that students will have to pay up to £7,500 annually to keep up standards in higher education. This was announced as lecturers carried out a one-day strike on Wednesday 5 May in response to the university’s decision to scrap 112 staff jobs in a bid to reduce spending by £5million.

The independent review of national student fees, known as the Browne Review, was launched on 15 March this year to investigate how student fees might change in the future. It includes consulting students on their priorities for changes to the higher education funding system and student finance.

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January blues hits students hard

Leicester University has published the results of a three-year longitudinal study looking at the way students experience their time in higher education. The study has highlighted high levels of January blues after students return from their Christmas holidays.

The results come from an analysis of two years of video diaries compiled by 40 undergraduates at Leicester University. The students were asked to film at least 5 minutes a week talking about things in their university life which mattered to them. This was the only direction given, a factor which Professor Annette Cashmore, director of the university’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Genetics, claimed was criti­cal in ensuring the importance of the data collected.

“There are a lot of video diary projects being done, but I’m not sure they tell you much more than what you’re guiding the subjects to talk about,” she said. “We gave first years a video camera, but then no other instruction except that we wanted at least five minutes of footage a week about anything that was important to them.”

Cashmore argues that, while you would expect high anxiety levels in students moving away to university in their first term, the research team was surprised by a spike of anxiety levels amongst students returning from home after Christmas.

“There were some really heartfelt videos that discussed things we hadn’t really appreciated the impact of,” she explains.

“One student talked about leaving her boyfriend at home, and when it got to Christmas she was nervous because of going back to a life she’d moved on from.

“Once home, it was hard getting back into the relationship with her boyfriend. And then when she arrived back at uni­versity, it was difficult, she said, to get back into friendships there because they hadn’t been made for very long.”

Other students discussed concerns about exams which they were to sit in early January and which they did not feel ready for after the Christmas break.

A second-year Sussex student agreed; “It’s so hard to revise over the holidays and a month off is too long. It takes so long to get back up to speed, you’ve missed half the term before you’re ready to start it.”

A second Sussex MA student also agreed; “I hated coming back after the holidays to a cold house and without my family. There was this mass of work which I hadn’t done and what seemed like no time to do it in.”

While some may see these as transito­ry concerns (an individual will certainly have to deal with more in their life than a cold house and a long holiday), Cashmore considers the study can have important practical applications. The central point of the study, she argues, is to discover what prompts students to drop out of university and how best to support them so they don’t.

35,000 students in England every year drop out of their degree courses. Not only is it expensive and demoral­ising for students, it also reflects badly on the Universities they studied at. In 2007-8 the University of Sussex’s drop out figures were 2.9%, one of the lowest in the country and well below the national average. Nonetheless, it is unsurprising that HE managers are keen to find ways of helping undergraduates successfully weather the pressures of studying at University level. A study looking at the reasons students dropped out showed a third said they didn’t enjoy university life, while only 8% cited debt as an issue.

One Sussex student said; “It will be interesting to see if our low drop out rates increase now university management want to scrap all our student support.”

Recurring themes in Cashmore’s video diaries include worries over set­tling into new accommodation, coping with new personal relationships and adapting to new styles of teaching and learning, and these do not end with the end of first year.

As a result of these findings, Leicester has committed to putting in place support for students at strategic times in their courses. These include Podcasts with advice for Freshers on how to negotiate their first University experience, how to deal with post-Christmas exam stress and what to expect with the increasing pressures of second and third years.

The university is also considering moving its first set of first-year exams so that students aren’t hit with tests while barely yet recovered from their new year hang¬over.

“When students first come to uni, there are lots of things put on to support them, such as mentoring and meeting with personal tutors, but it’s not just in October that it’s needed, it’s needed in January, too,” says Cashmore. “It’s not about mollycoddling the students – it’s about recognising the stressful elements that do occur in doing a degree.”

Cuts to archaeology courses

As reported by The Times Higher Education last month, “severe cuts” are taking place to continuing education courses across the country. Read more

Budget prescribes university cut-backs

The grim economic news for universities continued with the 2009 Budget announced on the 22nd of April. The Budget reveals that the Department of Innovation, Universities, and Skills (Dius) must save £2.3 Billion. Of these cuts, Alistair Darling has demanded £400 million in ‘efficiencies’ specifically from Universities in 2010-11. Read more

30,000 missing opportunities

Around 30,000 students will be denied places at university next year, according to the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS). Read more

Is the RAE corrupt?

Allegations of supposed prejudices have been levelled at the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) after recent analysis identified links between the performance of an institute in the RAE and how many of its academics judged on RAE panels. Read more

‘Dumbing down’ in degrees across England

Degree classifications are failing to accurately describe students’ academic achievements claims a new report by the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee. An inquiry on higher education has received claims of examiners encourage to award higher than appropriate marks, of ‘failing quality controls’ and ‘apathetic’ students, while the Higher Education Statistics Agency continue to record year on year increases in the number of students achieving first-class and upper-second (2:1) degrees.

Last week the Times Higher Education magazine reported that all students on a law course at Manchester Metropolitan University had their marks raised by 10% (an increase of 20 marks) after 85% of students had initially failed the 2nd year law module. Mr Walter Cairns, the tutor and original examiner for the course, revealed this decision to the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee. He also informed by committee that this unusual adjustment to the marking of the course was made in two consecutive academic years, 2004/05 and 2003/04. The decision was made after a second external examiner agreed that, “the examiner (Mr Cairns) is correct in assessing the placement of students in relation to each other” but said “the overall range would be better reflected if marks across the board were increased by 10 per cent. This would not allow those who deserve a fail mark to pass.”

Sue Evans, Economics lecturer at Manchester Met, has also claimed that work for first-year students has become easier and her submission to the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee reported an increase in the number of ‘compensated passes’ being awarded. ‘Compensated passes’ allow students who had failed a course to continue their studies the following year. Details revealed by Evans stated that 8 students who had achieved marks of between 22% and 34%, in the academic year 2004/05 being allowed to progress to their third year.

And it appears that it is not just Manchester Met that faces accusations. External examiner and senior lecturer at the Law School at the University of Central Lancashire Richard Royle has stated that firsts were consistently awarded for work, which only warranted third class marks or in some cases should have been failed. After working as an external examiner for the unnamed institution for four years, Royle told of his “astonishment” of consistently poor quality work produced by students. Royle voiced his concern about the inadequate standard of teaching and inappropriate marking of the course in letters to the course co-ordinator but commented that “At the assessment board, it was made clear to me that the marks would not be changed and that my comments were unwelcome”.

A record figure of 1 in 8 graduates achieved first-class degrees in Britain last year and 61% of all graduates were awarded a first-class or upper-second degree. Compared with 48% students in 1995/96, this figure reflects a huge increase in the number of students highly graded degrees. The Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee has commented that it is this year on year improvement in grades which has “led to allegations of ‘degree inflation’ and… contributed to an undermining of confidence in the degree classification system”.

Sussex’s 2007 and 2008 graduates topped the national averages for top class degrees received last year, when 17.3% of graduates received a first-class degree and 62.6% received upper-second degrees. A spokesperson for the university told The Badger “The proportion of firsts and 2-1s awarded by the University of Sussex is reasonably typical for universities of a similar type – the smaller, campus-based research universities, which have a higher quality student intake than the average… The most recent QAA audit of Sussex was completed in May 2008 and it concluded that “confidence can be placed in the soundness of the institution’s current and likely future management of the academic standards of its awards”, which is the highest rating that can be achieved.”

And for some good news … new online page for graduate job advice

The last few weeks have seen the introduction of a new online source for graduates curious about what direction to head in after their degree. This latest resource will come as useful and reassuring for graduates worried about the narrowing of choices when they leave university in a volatile climate with regards to employment and the economy.

Directgov, the ‘official government website for citizens,’ has added a new links page to its education and university section entitled ‘choices after you graduate,’ warning that “…if you want to prepare for life after graduation while keeping up with your studies, it pays to get organised – and to get the right advice.” This new source adds to an increasing production of information on the Internet, advising anxious students about their options post-Sussex.

‘If you want to prepare for life after graduation while keeping up with your studies it pays to get organised and to get the right advice.’

Evidence suggests that today’s students are becoming increasingly worried about what they are going to do after they finish university and how they are going to cope in a unpredictable employment sector. This concern has increased intensively as the economic troubles around the world worsen, and national governments are unable to ease the financial repercussions of the crisis. The media has also played a large part in increasing anxiety with daily reports claiming that the class of 2009 graduates will be hit the hardest by the recession.

Students have also been provided with various potential solutions to the problem. Carl Gilleard, from the Association of Graduate Recruiters, urges students to take up low-skilled jobs and voluntary work until the job market becomes buoyant once more. The Directgov website joins more optimistic sources of information for students who would like to think their degree qualifies them for a wider range of job opportunities regardless of the economic situation. The Directgov page has an extensive pool of information claiming to alleviate student concerns about the options for graduates, from Internet sources such as the Guardian online graduate education section, the more comprehensive Monster.co.uk, and not forgetting the advice individual universities can give, such as CDEC in Falmer House at Sussex.

The strength of this new online source is that it deals with many different paths out of university, from graduate job options to gap year ideas, and to further postgraduate education advice. It also covers information about TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and advice about starting your own business. Minister for the State for Higher Education, David Lammy said: “Going to university is still and always will be a good investment in your future career, this website will help by providing information on some of the options available to students after they graduate…We’re working with a range of organisations to make sure the information for graduates remains up-to-date and relevant, so students should log on for advice on what to do next.”

This new addition to the increasing amount of advice on offer for near-graduates will come as reassurance for students who have little idea of what to do when they leave university. It is also reassuring to know that in times of economic crisis, the government is aware of the need for comprehensive information for those who are heading off into an unpredictable job market for the first time. These sources remind students that there are still jobs available, especially in the public sector, and that there are still many options for graduates, even in difficult economic times. As always, the best approach is to use these resources to gather as much information as possible to be fully prepared for life after university.

Delay of top-up fees debate could cause university bankruptcies

The Government’s director-general for science and research, Adrian Smith, raised fears in a talk last week over the government’s decision to postpone the ‘top-up fees debate’ until after the next general election. He argues that universities risk bankruptcy in the face of an impossible budgeting task, unsure of future income after the debate about the cap on undergraduate tuition fees was delayed. Read more

Fall in UK student numbers for first time in recent history

Controversy followed the publication of figures by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) as numbers at British Universities are down by 1%, falling from 1,978,715 in 2007/8 to 1.96 million Higher Education (HE) enrolments in 2008/9. This is despite a 2% increase in full time students and a 5% rise in international students on last year. Read more

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