The Academic Experience of Students in English Universities: HEPI’s 2009 Survey

1. The Academic Experience of Students in English Universities: HEPI’s 2009 Survey Bahram Bekhradnia Director Higher Education Policy Institute 6 May 2009

4. Implications • Pedagogic approaches • Comparability of standards • Neither is self evident • “The fact that a student on one programme might receive more contact from their teachers than a student on another programme does not in itself say anything about the quality of the learning achieved by that student“ • But both need to be investigated and (hopefully) reassurance provided • Neither has been investigated so far

5. International comparisons - 2007

6. International comparisons - 2009

7. Confirmation of the international comparisons findings • A report published by HEFCE in April 2009 concluded • “The results of these studies support the conclusions of the HEPI report and add to the body of evidence that UK students commit fewer hours to study than students in other European countries.” : • It also report that despite this students at English universities – despite putting in fewer hours of study than students elsewhere in Europe – were more likely to be putting in more effort than was strictly required by their universities. • Again, this does not in itself indicate lower standards, but to ignore these findings will damage our reputation

8. 2009 Survey • Limited aims • Investigate if in 3 years since fees raised contact/group size improved, or students are working harder • No inter-institution or subject comparisons • Students working harder, but little significant differences in contact/group size • Unsurprising because • These are expensive to improve • A large part of the increased income has gone on correcting staff salaries

9. But there have been encouraging developments • Universities have been requesting data for their own purposes • And have sometimes been surprised by what they have found • Universities are increasingly making and demanding promises • Who will teach students • How much contact they will have and what informal contacts can be expected • Size of teaching groups • What effort students will devote to studies • Explicit statements about these things in prospectuses • If some can’t why can’t all? This is a matter of good practice

10. Unfinished business • What is needed now is for sector bodies to pick the issue up and run with it • Defensive denial that it is an issue will damage us all in the long run • An even larger scale survey is needed to establish the facts • And studies are needed to establish whether the differences matter, and if not why not

11. The Academic Experience of Students in English Universities: HEPI’s 2009 Survey Bahram Bekhradnia Director Higher Education Policy Institute 6 May 2009