Memorandum 106
Supplementary submission from Anand Raja[380]
An Engineering Student in X University posted
the following comment on the e-consultation run by our Committee.
"I am very happy with my course. I have 30 hours of contact
time. The coursework is gruelling and I am enjoying my time. I
wish I had some opportunity for placements." Even a cursory
look at the posted comments would reveal that among other things,
students want two things out of their University Experience: intellectual
challenge and training to face the world. Although the Engineering
student could wait for June to enter a placement, he is lucky
enough to get intellectual challenge and it will serve him well.
The vast majority of us are not so lucky. A lot of
students are complaining that contact hours are less than enough.
Quite a few lecturers are teaching with extreme distaste for the
job, also reflected in negligible contact hours outside the lecture
and poor feedback on written work. A lot of teaching is outsourced
to postgraduates who often miss the mark. Group Tutorials are
extinct.
Teaching is a no priority in most departments
because a department's sheen comes from its research performance,
not the happiness of its undergraduates. In academic circles,
rankings from the Research Assessment Exercise-which does not
take into account student satisfaction, have far greater currency
than rankings from Times Higher. In extremely competitive environments,
individual promotions are also based on research output. I would
find it strange if departments and individuals went all out to
teach well. Is that why all the Vice Chancellors appearing before
the committee were reluctant to directly answer the question Honble
Chairman so frequently asks: would it not be wise to advertise
how many contact hours a course would provide, who will teach
and how.
I think the task before us is to make teaching
rewarding for departments and individuals. Opening more Universities
and employing more teachers is also an answer. Why should students
such as the Engineering Student at X University be a lucky minority?
April 2009
380 Student, University of Birmingham. Back
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