Contracts could let students sue universities for poor teaching
UNIVERSITIES could be forced to sign contracts on teaching hours and standards which will allow students to sue them if they do not deliver, it was announced yesterday.
Jo Johnson, the universities minister, wants students to have consumer-style protections against poor teaching to improve standards.
Although some contracts already exist for degree courses, they often do not provide enough detail on the specific services to be delivered, Mr Johnson said.
Topics to be covered in the contracts would involve the amount of time spent in tutorials and lectures, what assessment is involved and what support students should expect. Agreements could also cover what students need to submit, how long it will take to get feedback and time with tutors.
If a university breaks its commitment with any individual student, they would have the right to take legal action.
A watchdog, the Office for Students (Ofs), which has been created this year, will consult in the autumn over whether introducing system-wide contracts would help protect students.
The announcement comes as fees rise in September to £9,250 a year – with further inflationrelated rises expected for wellperforming institutions. It is feared some universities are not providing value for money, with little access to tutors, few teaching hours and lax assessment.
Speaking at the Reform thinktank in London, Mr Johnson said the contracts were a ‘first for the system’ and would ‘underpin students’ rights as consumers, and ensure value for money throughout their course and their working lives’.
He said: ‘By providing students with greater contractual certainty over these key aspects of their own experience, the ofs would help to address much of the dissatisfaction over the seeming poor value for money of undergraduate education.’
And Mr Johnson said he would consult on how students could take action if expectations had not been met – adding that legal remedies could ‘ easily be included’. ‘Clearly it is in the nature of a contract that someone who feels the benefits promised in the contract are not getting delivered would have some form of redress,’ he added.
However, he pointed out that any new contracts would still allow for universities to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their courses. He added: ‘We
‘Challenging by design’
don’t want to tie people down in fine print that might be inappropriate, but the general framework of how a course is going to be delivered should be clear to the students.’
Sarah Stevens, of the Russell Group of leading universities, said: ‘Universities already have responsibilities to students under existing consumer protection laws. We need a system that protects students but also is fair to universities. Courses are challenging by design. They are intended to stretch students and take them out of their comfort zones.
‘No one would want to see standards undermined by the risk of legal action.’