Universities ‘taking illiterate students simply to hit targets’
TOO many students are arriving at university ‘ almost illiterate’ or unable to write English properly, according to a survey of academics.
Almost half of professors believe students are not being well prepared for higher education by their schools and that entry standards have slipped in recent years as universities struggle to hit government targets.
A record number of students now attend university, with around 48 per cent gaining places against just 3 per cent in 1950 and 14 per cent in the 1970s. Under New Labour in 1999, Tony Blair set a target of 50 per cent.
The Times Higher Education annual survey polled 1,150 university staff about their jobs, with academics making up 90 per cent of respondents. Some suggested the drive to get youngsters into university, as well as more foreign students who pay higher fees, has led to an inevitable drop in the calibre of undergraduates. One creative arts professor said: ‘When 45 per cent of school-leavers go to university, standards must be different from what they were when 7 per cent did.’
Another said: ‘Each year, the entry requirements for undergraduate programmes are reduced, meaning we get a high number of students who are almost illiterate.’ A lecturer at a London university said they wondered ‘how some of our [postgraduate] students got their first degrees, as the quality of their written English is really poor’.
The survey found that many had serious misgivings about the ability and motivation of their students.
Around 39 per cent of academics thought that students are intellectually less able or less well prepared than previous generations. The survey found half of staff said they thought students were turning up for class without having done the required background reading.
One academic said: ‘Students study to pass exams, no longer to study a discipline.’ Another added: ‘The lack of attention span and focus from students [is] an ongoing concern.’ And a third said teaching had become ‘painful’ because his postgraduates were ‘lethargic’ and had meetings with him ‘mainly to complain about marks’.
Students now pay £9,000 per year in fees, meaning universities are under pressure to treat them more like consumers who want their ‘money’s worth’.
A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘Our GCSE and A-level reforms will create qualifications that match the best education systems in the world. But we want to keep improving the quality of schools, so more students of all backgrounds have the grades and the confidence to apply to the best universities, and be successful in exams.’
‘Written English is really poor’