The cultural shifts that have pushed down standards at our universities
SIR – I write to confirm what Tibor Fischer (Comment, August 9) says about the low standards at many (not all) British universities.
I taught at five universities from the Seventies until my recent retirement. The universitisation of polytechnics in the Nineties muddied the water (and a valuable type of education was lost), but standards sank only when financial considerations were brought into the matter of university education.
From 2000, intake grew but was often of low quality: we were no longer allowed to interview students (acceptances were based on predicted A-levels), and we were discouraged from failing students.
Certainly, things “need to be tightened up”, as Mr Fischer says, but there are too many interested parties for that to happen. The first of these consists of successive governments – starting with Tony Blair’s, which wanted half of under-30s to go to university. Students, meanwhile, now see it as the norm to have three years of either partying (if their parents are well-off) or low-level jobs (if not). Very little academic work is demanded in many universities during term time.
Other interested groups include parents – who see a degree as essential to employment – and administrators, who now rule most universities.
Finally, there are the academics – who tend to be too young to know that things used to be better, or unwilling to do anything about it, or liable to brush aside the academic problems because of the greater egalitarianism. They are the only ones who, as Mr Fischer says, know the full truth – but, while they once had autonomy, they are now ruled by managers. Many have become managers themselves. Susan Powell
Leeds, West Yorkshire
SIR – I suffer from autism, dyspraxia, anxiety and depression, and realised while at school that higher education would be extremely stressful for me, and that it would be unfair to expect a college or university to cosset me through it. However, when informing teachers and therapists that I did not want to pursue higher education, I was met with incredulity and stories about people with similar issues who had been nursed through it by tutors.
This insistence on university for all, regardless of whether it is suitable, seems unfair on all concerned – from students with problems, who will leave thinking that the world exists to take care of them, to mentally healthy students who will end up neglected. Sally Alexander
Taunton, Somerset
SIR – Mr Fischer may have a point about modern students’ constant moaning, but it’s by no means universal.
I’ve just had an email from my university saying that, according to the National Student Survey, they are “100 per cent satisfied” with the course I am involved in teaching.
This is very worrying. They must be completely brainwashed or lack any critical ability whatsoever.
Dr John R Drummond
Cellardyke, Fife