Communicating value

The findings of the fifth iteration of a survey on the academic experience of students in English universities have been published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) today. With a combined sample of 26,000 students from 2013 and 2012, the surveys. jointly produced by HEPI and the consumer group ‘Which?’, have found that the great majority of students were satisfied regardless of how much contact they received but within this overall general satisfaction, those with the least contact were least satisfied. Additionally, in each of the five surveys (spanning the last 8 years), students were asked what the priorities for university spending should be.  ‘Increasing contact with staff’ together with ‘reductions in the size of teaching groups’ were the two options whose mention had increased over the years more than any others. In addition the survey found large variations between universities on the number of hours of study required by students to complete courses in the same subjects.

The increase in fees has put more of an emphasis on the value of courses, and the study found that of those receiving 0-9 hours of contact per week, 30% of first-year students thought that their course didn't offer value for money, compared with 10% for those with 15-24 hours per week. Communicating the overall value of a degree as well as the university experience is a pressing challenge for HEIs, and one set out by David Willetts in a speech at last month’s HEFCE conference when he said that he wanted “to see students provided with clear information about where their money goes and what they are getting for their fees”.  The University of Leicester has chosen to try and meet this challenge with a breakdown of their finances along with an accompanying explanation on student-facing pages of their website:    

“Fees contribute to much more than the cost of a lecturer or contact hours. To use an analogy, if you book a week’s B&B at a hotel you are on the face of it paying for seven nights in a bedroom and seven breakfasts. However, the total experience is much more than that. The value comes from the quality of the hotel, the service of the staff, the proximity to the beach, extra amenities such as a swimming pool or gym, the great weather etc. Similarly, time spent at a university is not just about the number of hours spent in lectures or seminars but about the quality of that teaching and facilities such as the library, academic and personal support services, careers advice, the Students’ Union etc. In that sense, the term ‘tuition fee’ is misleading because this money pays for much more than tuition.”

BUFDG have already started to talk to HEFCE and the NUS about how we might encourage HEIs to communicate the information about how students’ fees are used but we need your views. Please email Karel and let her know if you are proud of what you currently do and if you’d be willing to share your ideas more widely.