Universities should be sanctioned if they fail students

The consumer group, Which? suggested that universities should be sanctioned if they are failing to ensure that students get value for their money.

Which? Claimed that tougher measures should be put in place to encourage higher standards and punish failings.

The consumer group’s report suggested that higher education institutions such as Warwick University, should offer students contracts which detail what each course should involve and that standards should be set on how to handle complaints.

These documents would hopefully make it easier to assess the performance of universities and sanction the institutions that are failing.

Additional proposed methods for regulating higher education institutions included providing better information to applications on subjects including precise fees, financial support and career prospects.

The performance of universities could then be measured and regulated in line with this criteria.

1,023 UK graduates were surveyed in the report and a third said their course was not good value for money.

Three in ten students rated their academic experience as poor and fewer than half (49 percent) of the students described their course as demanding. A similar 45 percent said that they felt that their seminars were not worth attending.

Bethan Jackson-Jones, a second-year English undergraduate said that she felt fairly satisfied with her course, “I enjoy my course because I enjoy reading, and the discussion style of seminars are great, but I feel like there could be more help with essays.”

Another poll from the report discovered that out of the 4,500 surveyed students, 58 percent had experienced content changes or fee increases since the beginning of their course. And a fifth found an advertised module was no longer available.

The research indicated that students were reluctant to complain, 17 percent of the respondents experienced a problem in their academic year, however, only half of them complained.

Of the small number of students who complained, 58 percent were dissatisfied with the response and 48 percent students said that they felt they were ignored.

The report’s authors blamed recent reforms to the university sector for leaving its regulatory system behind. They claim that now that students have to take on tens of thousands of pounds of debt, they are entitled to stronger regulatory protection.

According to the Guardian, the report states: “Higher education is not a typical market, but this should not absolve providers of adhering to consumer protection law.”

Rowan Rogers, a second-year Statistics student stated: “I do not think you should sanction universities for their courses because it is too subjective a thing.”

Asa Cremin, a second-year Maths and Physics student commented: “I love my course, it offers me a lot of flexibility, and I feel like it gives me a lot of options for my future.

“I do not think they should be sanctioned, because how are you going to judge the standard of a course such as a humanities subject? It is a bit wishy washy.”

Ms Jackson-Jones added: “I think that on one hand it would be good, as it would encourage them to really enhance their learning environment, but on the other hand, it will make [universities] more focused on marks in exams and essays rather than the actual experience.”