In the first a young prospective law student called Elly Nowell wrote to Magdalen College Oxford (you know, the one you need to know how to pronounce if you don’t want to give yourself away), informing them that following an interview she had decided that they ‘did not quite meet the standard of universities she would be considering’. In other words, she rejected them. In the other, the Universities Secretary revealed a massive upsurge in students lodging official complaints about the standard of teaching they receive.
Both these examples are quite natural consequences of the growing sense of a real market in the university system – a two way process in which both buyers and sellers have rights. As more and more would-be students (and, hopefully, their parents) wonder whether it’s worth investing £27,000 before living expenses to move onto university, universities are slowly waking up to the fact that they will have to compete.
The consumers of their ‘product’ are getting wise to what they have to offer. For too long now, ever since New Labour’s target-driven push to inflate student numbers, the universities have simply had to sit back and rake in the fees and income from accommodation without trying too much to attract, and then satisfy, the punters. The market has been more of a one-way street.
With the hike in fees due this year, something the universities were no doubt rubbing their hands over, all that’s about to change. Some universities may well ‘get it’ and start to reform how they interact with their ‘customers’ and indeed the courses they offer them – two year degrees anyone? More rigorous marking (not just post-grads) and testing (boo to ‘describe’ rather than ‘discuss’ essays) perhaps? Others will not, and those that don’t will find life in the brave new marketplace difficult, if not impossible. Business plans built on 95% occupancy (of places and accommodation) will be shown to be built on sand.
Could be interesting, and not altogether unwelcome, if it means a move away from a model based on volume towards one founded on value.
