Higher fees have not created an improvement in student contact time, says report

UCU today said that concerns about the amount of staff contact time with students and the quality of UK higher education, highlighted in a new report, would continue to grow if urgent action was not taken to protect thousands of lecturers' jobs.
 
The report from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) looks at students' academic experiences and says that, despite paying extra in fees to study at university, students have not seen an increase in the amount of formal teaching time they have with lecturers.
 
UCU argues that the situation can only get worse as the higher education sector faces a 'jobs crisis' with 100 institutions having announced they will be axing staff. The union today reiterated its call for a national agreement to protect jobs, which staff and students have already signed up to; leaving the employers isolated on the issue.

'The current jobs crisis in UK higher education represents the greatest threat to our ability to deliver a standard of higher education that can truly compete around the world.'
Sally Hunt
UCU general secretary
 

UCU is currently in dispute with university employers over their refusal to sit down and thrash out such an agreement. The union's members are currently being balloted for industrial action with the result expected on Friday 22 May.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Our concern is that the scrimping on staff costs, coupled with rising numbers of students, has led to a higher ratio of teaching staff to students in the UK than our competitor countries.  This has led to increasing staff workloads. The current jobs crisis in UK higher education represents the greatest threat to our ability to deliver a standard of higher education that can truly compete around the world.
 
'Despite the global economic problems, other countries are investing in education and staff - not looking to make cuts. The top priority for the sector at the moment has to be a national agreement that will protect against staff cuts and increased staff:student ratios.
 
'This timely report reminds us that we have much to do to maintain our proud international reputation, and even more to sustain it in the new global higher education sector. Higher education teaching in the UK has consistently been judged to be of good quality - we need the investment to keep it that way.'