University Challenge

This afternoon an excellent plumber came to my house and fitted a new shower; if anyone needs a good plumber I am happy to pass on the contact details. Anyway, the point of this blog is not to discuss my plumbing, but rather make a point about the future of higher education in this country.

Yet it was the arrival of this skilled (and amiable) plumber that made me think about the future of university education. The aforementioned plumber was providing a service; the unspoken, but clearly understood, contract was that if I am happy with the work (and I am) then I will pay the bill. I am the client, he is the service provider, and the outcome is the successful completion of the contract.

With the advent of £9000 tuition fees at most universities it will be interesting to see if students develop into clients and universities into service providers. To my mind the relationship has never been of that nature; students took the responsibility for their learning and got what they could from the institution. If they wrote a poor essay or failed an exam then it was the student not the university that was to blame. Poor teaching rarely came into it; in fact first year students are often taught by post graduate research students (I did just that when I was completing my PhD). Will first year students paying £9000 a year for tuition be prepared to put up with tutorials from teachers with no teaching qualifications; or from eccentric but brilliant Dons? Will they question results, or essay marks? Will universities be asking to students to sign disclaimers? What about the brilliant A Level student with 4 A grades, who goes on to get a lower second, who will be to blame? As for Reading Weeks, well I dread to think!

The point I am making is that if a client to service provider relationship develops between students and university teachers then it is likely to lead to fewer independently minded students, less able to accept responsibility for their own performance. It will also be a field day for the lawyers.