Memorandum 77
Submission from the Institute of Materials,
Minerals and Mining
STUDENTS AND
UNIVERSITIES
Summary
Admissions: By and large the system works well
but universities which require a minimum of three "A"
grades find it increasingly difficult to identify the best students
on this basis. Admission tutors need more dedicated support and
there is a need to share best practice. More guidance is needed
on admission criteria for wider participation.
— Teaching vs Research: High quality research
is a prerequisite for an inspirational and creative teaching environment.
The need to maintain a high rating for research and thereby an
elevated research income means that equal effort cannot be devoted
to research and teaching without working long hours. Current workloads
are such that striking the right balance is increasingly difficult.—
Degree Classification: Degree quality across the UK is not as
diverse as it may be supposed. Degree classification is not always
reflected in subsequent postgraduate performance. Plagiarism in
examinations assisted by access to electronically based sources
of information is a growing problem.— Student Support and
Engagement: Effective student support and engagement is a demanding
activity and further increases time pressures on academics. New
models of teaching may need to be considered.
1. Admissions
1.1 The UK has a well honed A-level based
admission route into higher education institutions (HEIs) and
this is well calibrated and well tried. It is sometimes difficult
to differentiate at the high end of A-level grades, and some HEIs
which set a minimum of three "A" grades are considering
setting their own entrance exam. Interviews and open days are
a good added dimension. It is difficult to be prescriptive, but
clearing for residual remaining places is a tough time for tutors
and applicants alike, and something of a lottery in comparison
with UCAS based applications. It may be difficult to change this,
but it is not the best way to channel our young talent across
the UK. Possibly admission tutors need more dedicated support
and more best-practice could be shared.
1.2 Some HEIs are doing well at widening access,
but delivery is variable and depends on local motivation as well
as the effectiveness of the Government's financial model. Widening
participation also requires follow-through with greater student
support, as for overseas students with, for example, language.
It is especially important to focus resources to support such
students in their first year when behaviour and learning patterns
are established.
1.3 More guidance on admission criteria
for wider participation would help calibrate our approach and
make the system fairer.
2. Teaching vs Research
2.1 Research sets the backdrop to teaching
quality, since a motivating research environment often defines
an inspirational and creative teaching environment. Clearly methodology
and technical tools need to be provided, but we are in danger
of losing the enthusiasm of charismatic teachers by boxing them
into norms of structured teaching. Student and staff feedback
is now well developed, and is an excellent way of maintaining
standards.
2.2 A spectrum of resources exists across HEIs
for teaching vs research, but this does not always reflect
on teaching quality which is more people driven. However, it will
not help that the high pressure on research excellence will continue
with simultaneous greater demand on teaching quality and productivity.
The inevitable consequence of long working hours and immediacy
of expectation will have a damaging long-term effect, on strategy,
with adverse effects on the culture in which students are brought
up. This is regardless of how "correct" the paper chase
of documentation and teaching governance might appear.
2.3 Training in teaching, particularly for
new staff, is well organised and usually obligatory, so is a powerful
influence on personal priority setting as regards teaching vs
research.
2.4 Government influence on the teaching
to research balance and learning opportunities is good at the
macro-level, but cannot readily impact on coalface activity any
more than it can influence local research quality. The latter
must come through teaching leadership at local level, and the
application of local levers.
2.5 Formally, equal regard is paid to teaching
as to research, including for promotion, however the self-image
of a HEI is hugely dependent on its research and much less so
on its teaching. Indeed the death of research in a HEI is likely
to mean the death of vibrant teaching programmes so research should
be seen as an aid to a world class student experience. Government
should recognise that teaching quality monitoring has been a blunt
tool and cannot measure the value to a young person of motivated,
charismatic teachers. A handful of such teachers is more valuable
than the accumulated evidence of quality by a teaching Governance
Committee. Motivated teachers will not emerge in an era when academics
do not have time to achieve a 100% satisfying effort in teaching.
This is not the best way of generating a virtuous circle of good
teaching, satisfactory student progress and high teaching reputation.
3. Degree Classification
3.1 The guardians of degree standards are
rightly the external examiners. They do not achieve perfect standardisation,
however, because of the huge change to curricula with new advanced
knowledge entering the arena and the diversity of courses that
fuse two or more subjects. Degree quality is not as diverse across
the UK as may be supposed; what is different are the skills and
aptitude that is passed on, for example, applied and practical
vs intellectually focussed. Employers make their own calculations
regarding these differences when they compare HEIs. Whatever the
degree classification, factual recall decays exponentially, and
so the significance of a degree classification is not as long
lived as many would have us believe; it does not always translate
to differences in postgraduate performance, except perhaps at
the extremes.
3.2 Plagiarism is a growing problem and is facilitated
by easy access to relevant information on the worldwide web. The
potential acceptability of this approach to new generations of
students is a serious concern. Strict counter-measures do not
resolve this aberrant attitude to learning.
4. Student Support and Engagement
4.1 Student support is discharged reasonably
well through the tutorial system. However, this is a demanding
activity and does not necessarily eliminate problems, notably
of non-completion. If general standards are to be maintained,
as long as student support is constrained by lack of additional
resources, it is difficult to see how failures will not increase
with wider participation.
4.2 A world class experience for students has
its roots in the vibrant research that teaching staff are pursuing.
The Government may expect productivity but this, and quality,
lie in enthusiastic academics. Exceptional pressures on academics
beyond critical levels do not sit well with their role-model responsibilities.
Students are very sensitive to the realities on the ground facing
their teachers.
4.3 Government needs to quantify pressures
on academic time, make a judgement on what is required for good
teaching preparation, delivery and assessment, and then offer
mechanisms to enable staff to achieve this, recognising that quality
as well as quantitative teaching productivity with more students
cannot both be achieved without new models of teaching.
January 2009
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