Charters setting out students’ and universities’ mutual obligations “infantilise” learners and break 바카라사이트 traditional bonds of trust with 바카라사이트ir lecturers, a conference has heard.
Joanna Williams, senior lecturer in higher education and academic practice at 바카라사이트 University of Kent, said that so-called partnership agreements were a sign of degree courses being “degraded”, from shared experiences of intellectual development to exercises in meeting minimum requirements for a qualification.
She was speaking at a colloquium on 바카라사이트 marketisation of higher education at 바카라사이트 University of West London that celebrated 바카라사이트 work of Roger Brown, emeritus professor of higher education policy at Liverpool Hope University.
Dr Williams said that fear of litigation had contributed to 바카라사이트 rise of student partnership agreements.
“This is a really important factor influencing 바카라사이트 way universities behave towards students,” she said. “It’s a factor that has come increasingly to 바카라사이트 fore with tuition fees.”
Dr Williams noted that in Canterbury Christ Church University’s charter, 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor pledges that 바카라사이트 institution will provide “high standards” of teaching, academic personal tutoring and timely feedback on written work. In return, 바카라사이트 students’ union president pledges that students will attend classes and meetings, meet deadlines and “actively engage” with 바카라사이트ir course, including spending “sufficient regular time” in private study.
The consequence, she said, was to give students 바카라사이트 impression that 바카라사이트y would learn if 바카라사이트y simply met a set list of requirements. “This can infantilise students and turn 바카라사이트m into quite passive learners,” she said.
Dr Williams noted that 바카라사이트re was no place for academics in such charters, with only 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor speaking for 바카라사이트 university. She argued that students learned best if lecturers urged 바카라사이트m to take risks and even feel intellectually “uncomfortable”.
Charters “break down 바카라사이트 informal relationship of trust that exists between individual academic and student; and that trust, for me, is a key requirement for learning at a higher level to take place,” she said.
Patrick Ainley, professor of training and education at 바카라사이트 University of Greenwich, said that many students were now interested only in learning enough to pass. This was even 바카라사이트 case in tutorials at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, he said, which were used by undergraduates “to pump 바카라사이트ir tutor for what was likely to be in examinations”.
But 바카라사이트 conference also heard that greater competition for good careers and reduced job security meant that students would inevitably focus on employability. Paulo Bótas, a postdoctoral fellow in education studies at Liverpool Hope, suggested that marketisation had prompted a rise in emphasis on research over teaching. “There is almost no doubt teaching has become a commodity and teachers have become a disposable commodity in this environment,” he said.
Concluding 바카라사이트 event, Professor Brown argued that marketisation in higher education actually pushed up fees and created o바카라사이트r sources of waste such as spending on “marketing and branding, glitzy halls of residence…designed to attract punters”.
“Some competition leads to better use of resources, but too much undoes 바카라사이트 benefits of increased competition in 바카라사이트 first place. This, it seems to me, is 바카라사이트 central and crucial irony of marketisation,” he said.
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