University degrees 'not worth £9,000', students claim

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

Almost three-quarters of final year undergraduates at elite institutions said the new maximum tuition fee rate - being introduced next year - represented poor value for money.
 

According to figures, some 22 per cent of students believe course costs are already too high but that soars to 72 per cent when asked if they had been prepared to pay up to £9,000.
 

The disclosure is made in a survey of students at 39 top universities in Britain, including those belonging to the elite Russell Group.
 

The study, commissioned by the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, which represents 250 top private schools, found that many students were critical of the quality of teaching at university, a lack of feedback and poor pastoral support.
 

In all, up to a third of undergraduates believed degree courses were failing to prepare them for their future careers.
 
 
The findings come as sixth-formers across Britain are deciding where to apply for courses starting next year – when the cap on fees increases from £3,375 to a maximum of £9,000 – and the latest report will raise questions about what they will get for their money.
 
It comes after research at the weekend showed a wide variation in the amount of “contact time” with academics that undergraduates will receive. In arts subjects, some undergraduates will pay the equivalent of £15 an hour for lecturers and classroom tuition in the first year compared with £50 at other institutions.
 
Kenneth Durham, HMC chairman and headmaster of University College School in north London, said: “Universities are going to be charging people a reasonable amount of money for their tuition and there is very little evidence of what this extra money is going to pay for."
 
The latest study – published to coincide the start of the HMC annual conference in St Andrews today – was based on a survey of students from independent and state schools.
 
More than half – 52 per cent – of those questioned said the teaching they were given at school was better than that at university.
 
This was more marked among privately educated pupils, with 61 per cent saying their school teaching was better, compared with 42 per cent of state school students.
 
In all, almost nine-in-10 private school pupils and seven-in-10 of those from the state sector said their education had prepared them well for the demands of a degree course.
 
But some students – particularly those from independent schools – felt “that they had been slightly too ‘spoon-fed’, and that not enough had been done to allow for broader, independent, research based learning”, the study said.
 
It added: “Similarly, many felt that schools were very much preoccupied with training their students to just pass exams, instead of offering a broader learning experience”. Telegraph