Today, I went to a conference, mostly as a helping hand, but I also got to sit in on some events.
I enjoy helping out at conferences, it’s a new experience for me, and I get to see how academics and researchers are developing new ways of teaching, and I get to speak to them about new things. It’s a new environment, and I get to expand my horizons slightly.
With student numbers dropping, lecturers and professional staff are quickly having to rethink their ways of encouraging potential students to choose their institution. Rising tuition fee costs, extra pressure, and Brexit are currently some of the biggest reasons why students are having a hard time choosing to come to university, and honestly, if I was now finishing school and getting ready for university, I would be hesitant, too.
What does £27,000 get you these days? And that’s just for the course, this doesn’t even begin to factor in your maintenance loans.
It’s a hard question to answer, especially if you do not know the reasons that you want to attend university.
When I started, my tuition was £3,500 a year, so my degree cost me £9,500 approximately. This is now how much a student is paying per year to attend university.
So, academics need to change the way they teach in order to better university rankings, which leads to a larger student intake. Lecturers, I learnt today, are determined. The students are their focus, they want students to have a great education, and they want to help as much as they can, but they are put under an immense amount of pressure, and don’t always have the resources to teach effectively.
Today was really an eye opener for me.
There is a rising consumer culture happening at universities. Students are paying a lot, and they expect a lot for the amount that they’re paying. This is what they are entitled to feel. They are spending huge amounts of money, they want to know that they can get a job after graduating, they want to know whether they’re going to be taught well. They want to get what they’re paying for.
It’s a long road for students and academics, it’s a tough one, because without the students, we can’t get the funding. The funding makes sure that students get what they need.
It’s a never ending loop.
Maybe one day there will be an answer. I just don’t have an answer for it.
A Messy Blog 