English students have lightest load for highest fees

More undergraduates in England find courses poor value compared with those in the rest of country

ENGLISH universities give students fewer assignments, classes and lectures than institutions elsewhere in the UK despite charging higher tuition fees, a report has found.

Over a third of English students who study in England think university is poor value for money, which is a higher proportion than their peers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to an analysis by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi).

A survey of more than 60,000 undergraduates, conducted over five years, found that students from England who study at English universities appear to work less hard than their peers from elsewhere in the country.

Nick Hillman, director of Hepi, said the results were surprising considering English students pay more for their degrees than their peers from other parts of the UK.

Education is devolved in Britain, meaning that students pay different levels of tuition fees depending on where they are from and where they choose to study. Students in England pay up to £9,250 a year, while those from Scotland get free tuition if they stay there to study.

In Northern Ireland, local students pay up to £4,275 a year in tuition fees and in Wales local students pay up to £9,000 a year in fees.

But despite paying the highest fees, English students studying in England say they have fewer classes, lectures and assessments than their peers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the report found.

On average, English universities set 13.4 hours of scheduled classes a week, compared with 14.6 hours in Northern Ireland, 14.3 in Wales and 14 in Scotland. English universities also set the least assessments, the survey found.

English students at English universities also reported attending the least hours of classes with 12 per week compared with 12.6 for their Scottish peers, 12.9 for Welsh students and 13.4 for those in Northern Ireland.

However, the survey found that English students spend an average of 14 hours a week on “independent study” which is more than their peers elsewhere in the UK who spend between 12.2 and 13.9 hours a week.

Mr Hillman said that the differences could be partly explained by the fact that a higher proportion of English students (10 per cent) take social studies, which tends to have lower workloads, than students in other areas of the UK.

“English students in England seem to work less hard than their counterparts elsewhere,” he said. “In other words, English students in England may be paying more for less – or, given the different subject mix, more for the same.”

He said the “marketisation” of the English higher education system had led students to see themselves as consumers paying for an expensive service.