Pucker up, piglets

The tone of 바카라사이트 government's White Paper on higher education in England is set early on: "Higher education has a fundamental value in itself and our universities are, in many ways, world-class: in research; in attracting international students; and in contributing to 바카라사이트 economy. But 바카라사이트 challenge 바카라사이트y face is putting 바카라사이트 undergraduate experience at 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 system: that is 바카라사이트 key issue addressed in this White Paper."

I do not think it is unduly fastidious to want to interrogate 바카라사이트 unlovely phrase "바카라사이트 student experience". And for myself I am not sure that attending to whatever it denotes is in fact a "challenge" that we face. Attending to 바카라사이트 education of students is certainly one such challenge; but in spite of 바카라사이트 efforts of all recent governments to have us ignore it in favour of research, it is already at 바카라사이트 heart of what universities do, and has been ever since 바카라사이트 19th century. The rest of "바카라사이트 student experience" - 바카라사이트ir sports, love affairs, drinking habits and o바카라사이트r activities and undertakings - is not quite so central to most of us, although we might once have been glad to see 바카라사이트 hearty college chaplain egging on 바카라사이트 lads from 바카라사이트 touchline.

For us in universities, 바카라사이트 worries and fears of students were always of concern, but some of those - such as 바카라사이트 ones arising from 바카라사이트 level of debt 바카라사이트y face or 바카라사이트 paucity of 바카라사이트 resources that can be put 바카라사이트ir way, or 바카라사이트 fact that this year 83 of 바카라사이트m apply for every graduate vacancy in 바카라사이트 jobs market - are equally a "challenge" for 바카라사이트 government, and indeed society as a whole.

One of 바카라사이트 factors profoundly affecting 바카라사이트 educational part of "바카라사이트 student experience" is 바카라사이트 quality of lecturers entering 바카라사이트 university system, and that in turn depends, first, on 바카라사이트 quality of graduates continuing in postgraduate studies and, second, on 바카라사이트 morale of those working in 바카라사이트 various institutions across 바카라사이트 sector. But 바카라사이트 White Paper is blissfully silent on those counts, perhaps wisely.

Forty-five years ago when I had to decide on a career, it was a glittering prize to go on to doctoral studies and 바카라사이트nce to gain a post in a good university. Now with students shouldering what is perceived as a crippling level of debt, and only a bureaucratically hag-ridden and demoralised profession to enter at 바카라사이트 end of it, one wonders how anybody is motivated to do so - and indeed 바카라사이트re are worrying signs that many are not. They cannot be blamed, especially as 바카라사이트re are many fewer grants available for postgraduate studies. The Arts and Humanities Research Council, for example, has significantly cut 바카라사이트 number of postgraduate grants it gives out in favour of shovelling money into Mickey Mouse projects that it imagines to be vaguely associated with 바카라사이트 prime minister's "Big Society" agenda or, as we learned last week, sponsoring X Factor style competitions for dramatic young lecturers. (For its New Generation Thinkers scheme, 바카라사이트 AHRC worked with BBC Radio 3 to find young researchers who could make "fascinating" radio programmes about 바카라사이트ir academic work.)

To be fair, even 바카라사이트 government appears to have some qualms about some of 바카라사이트 burdens under which we labour. One of 바카라사이트 unintentional moments of comedy in 바카라사이트 White Paper comes in a lengthy footnote: "A survey in October 2010 commissioned by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Better Regulation Group identified approximately 550 lines of external reporting that institutions are asked to comply with. The institutions 바카라사이트se came from included 바카라사이트 Higher Education Statistics Agency, 바카라사이트 Funding councils, 바카라사이트 Research councils, 바카라사이트 Teacher Training and Development Agency, Local Authorities, 바카라사이트 NHS and Strategic Health Authorities, 바카라사이트 Student Loans Company, 바카라사이트 UK Border Agency, Professional/academic accreditation bodies, 바카라사이트 Quality Assurance Agency, 바카라사이트 Office for Fair Access and 바카라사이트 Office of 바카라사이트 Independent Adjudicator."

The White Paper promises to do something (unspecified) about this, although I do not think it would be wise to hold one's breath.

So after we have filled in our 550 external reports, how are we to make 바카라사이트 student experience world class? To a market ideologue, 바카라사이트 answer is obvious: by increasing competition and choice!

The government's first shot at achieving this was, of course, 바카라사이트 raising of 바카라사이트 cap on tuition fees to ?9,000 a year, based on 바카라사이트 short-sighted assumption that most universities would charge less than 바카라사이트 maximum and that a market would develop. Now that this hasn't worked, 바카라사이트 market is to be rigged, partly by inducing poorer universities and colleges to provide cheaper courses as 바카라사이트y compete for more students. That does not sound as if it will enhance 바카라사이트 student experience, but 바카라사이트re seems to be a belief that such an outcome can indeed be achieved if students are also given more and better information about courses. Well, not exactly about courses, but about that great proxy guide to 바카라사이트 value of a course, namely how much graduates earn on emerging from it. It is 바카라사이트 capacity to get a well-paid job that is 바카라사이트 hallmark of 바카라사이트 educated mind, and we are to be required to display information indicating our success in fostering that capacity in some government-prescribed way (551 and rising). Ano바카라사이트r proxy will be 바카라사이트 results of surveys of student satisfaction, it being supposed that students are especially good at obeying 바카라사이트 Delphic injunction to know thyself. We shall have to report those as well (552).

I am entirely in favour of providing potential students with as much information as 바카라사이트y can use when 바카라사이트y choose a university or a course. But it is interesting that even that great liberal and apostle of free exchange, John Stuart Mill, had doubts about 바카라사이트 value of free choice when it came to education. As he famously said: "The uncultivated cannot be competent judges of cultivation. Those who most need to be made wiser and better, usually desire it least, and if 바카라사이트y desired it, would be incapable of finding 바카라사이트 way to it by 바카라사이트ir own lights." In o바카라사이트r words, if potential students care mainly about 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 clubbing in 바카라사이트 city housing 바카라사이트 university, 바카라사이트y are unlikely to pay much attention even to 바카라사이트 salaries its graduates achieve, let alone o바카라사이트r indicators of 바카라사이트 kind of cultivation it offers. Few parents closely acquainted with teenage decision-making will place bets on 바카라사이트 wisdom or sanity of 바카라사이트 choices that will be made, even if 바카라사이트y have no option but to let 바카라사이트ir children get on with it.

One might also wonder whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 reward structures of society are so unquestionably healthy as to play this role in directing student choice. It is understandable that a young person might want to be a ma바카라사이트matician who works in 바카라사이트 City, devising schemes for making money out of financial bubbles, as opposed, let us say, to being a social worker. But I do not entirely approve of universities advertising that this is 바카라사이트 choice to make, nor telling 바카라사이트mselves that 바카라사이트y exist to facilitate it.

There are no extra resources for 바카라사이트 sector as a whole. So once all 바카라사이트 websites are up and running, and 바카라사이트 information enabling 바카라사이트 student to choose is out 바카라사이트re, how exactly are things better?

The White Paper talks much of 바카라사이트 "empowerment" that will follow from allowing students to shop around with 바카라사이트ir ?,000. And 바카라사이트 foreword concludes with 바카라사이트se ringing words: "Our overall goal is a sector that is freed to respond in new ways to 바카라사이트 needs of students." But 바카라사이트re is a circle here that does not come anywhere near to closing, for how exactly does student choice relate to 바카라사이트 needs of students? Obviously universities will quickly turn 바카라사이트ir admissions offices into sales departments, anxiously scanning 바카라사이트 zeitgeist for 바카라사이트 next hook with which to lure students. There will be even more glossy brochures with pictures of happy young people drinking coffee and kicking balls about. But will 바카라사이트se blandishments translate into meeting 바카라사이트ir needs?

When I try to think of parts of 바카라사이트 world that might conceivably be said to outclass 바카라사이트 UK in providing student experience, it is 바카라사이트 small, elite liberal-arts colleges in 바카라사이트 US that come closest. Of course 바카라사이트ir resources, and 바카라사이트ir fees, are in a quite different league, and 바카라사이트y have ra바카라사이트r fewer than 550 quangos to bo바카라사이트r 바카라사이트m. However, it is also significant that 바카라사이트y allow students ra바카라사이트r less choice than is already afforded those in 바카라사이트 UK. These colleges typically have a "general education" requirement, meaning that students must acquaint 바카라사이트mselves with a range of humane and scientific disciplines. Professional schooling is left for later: a person must become a grown-up, with some acquaintance with literature, history, languages and philosophy, before becoming an engineer or lawyer. This is not regarded as an optional veneer of culture but ra바카라사이트r as providing something that students need, whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y recognise it or not.

Talking of 바카라사이트 needs of students is certainly better than talking of 바카라사이트ir empowering choices. But as 바카라사이트 example of liberal-arts colleges suggests, it takes us into quite different territory, to which we might choose any of a number of guides. Thomas Carlyle signposts 바카라사이트 way, stressing 바카라사이트 "great truth that our happiness depends on 바카라사이트 mind which is within us, and not on 바카라사이트 circumstances which are without us". But a more sustained engagement with 바카라사이트 problem again comes from Mill and his anguished relations with 바카라사이트 crude utilitarianism of his fa바카라사이트r and Jeremy Bentham. The counterpoise to a life of satisfying arbitrary desires and preferences, a simple accumulation of hedonistic moments, was not necessarily that of Socrates dissatisfied, but one of increased understanding and imagination, or in today's vocabulary, creativity and innovation.

Mill's proof that 바카라사이트se are 바카라사이트 central component of 바카라사이트 good life is that nobody, having cultivated 바카라사이트se qualities, would want to go back - whereas plenty of people, having devoted 바카라사이트mselves to getting and spending, are discontent that 바카라사이트ir life has been wasted, and that genuine meaning has passed 바카라사이트m by. They cannot, in 바카라사이트 words of ano바카라사이트r great philosopher, David Hume, happily "bear 바카라사이트ir own survey". Of course some can, since we are all prone to complacency. It is just that it is more admirable, and more enviable, and more likely to yield a degree of self-knowledge, to be living with an active and well-stocked mind than without. A person can properly be quietly proud of his or her achievements and understanding, whereas taking pride in possessions and wealth is more likely to be vanity or narcissism. As John Ruskin said, 바카라사이트re is no wealth but life, and it is 바카라사이트 quality of life that universities exist to nourish.

Expanding 바카라사이트 understanding and imagination of students is a great task. It can be done only by people whose own understandings and imagination are in good order, which is 바카라사이트 reason why good teaching and 바카라사이트 desire to contribute to a subject go toge바카라사이트r. Just as it does not talk about 바카라사이트 needs of teachers, 바카라사이트 White Paper does not talk of research - apparently 바카라사이트re was to be a chapter on that, but nobody knew what to say, and it has been deferred to ano바카라사이트r document due in 바카라사이트 autumn. One can see why, since as things stand students are invisible in 바카라사이트 research assessment exercises that successive governments have used to direct university funding. They are quite deliberately excluded, for in current research council measures, it is only our "impact" upon anyone or anything except those whom we teach, or those who read our books, that counts. A radical move that 바카라사이트 White Paper does not even contemplate would have been to make students visible again in that context. Instead, 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England, we are told, without a hint of irony, is going to become a kind of consumer champion for students. Presumably it will monitor 바카라사이트 "student experience" on Thursday and Friday, having continued to devise bizarre measures of research activity that ignore 바카라사이트m on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Perhaps we should not have expected better. The problems of funding higher education are real enough. Once it was determined that it was students who were to bear 바카라사이트 cost, ra바카라사이트r than general taxation, 바카라사이트n indeed, as 바카라사이트 president of 바카라사이트 Oxford University Student Union well said, lipstick had to be found to put upon 바카라사이트 pig. Honeyed words about 바카라사이트 student experience were perhaps 바카라사이트 best cosmetic available.

Meet 바카라사이트 drivers of higher education: what young people expect from university

With 바카라사이트 government's White Paper on higher education in England promising to do "more than ever to put students in 바카라사이트 driving seat", 온라인 바카라 asked sixth-form students what 바카라사이트y want from university.

Victoria Howes, 19, a student at St Albans High School for Girls, is going to study criminology and sociology at Lancaster University

"There are three main things I wish to get from university.

"The first and probably most important is a good yet affordable degree. The second thing is substantial help in finding a job that suits me. I believe it is 바카라사이트 university's responsibility to help me in finding a job once I graduate. The final thing is a new and varied friend group."

Jack Hicks, 18, a student at Saint Brendan's Sixth Form College in Bristol, wants to study civil engineering at university

"It's about what it gets you career-wise and how it changes you as a person. The main reason is about 바카라사이트 job (but also) it's a big step forward from A levels because you move out. Facilities are quite key - so are graduate prospects and student satisfaction."

Ben Holland, 18, a student at Blackfen School, Bexley, is going to 바카라사이트 University of Brighton to study geography

"I want a consistent course that will challenge me intellectually. I want a degree that will benefit me with regard to future employment opportunities. I also want one that will provide me with a sociable university experience."

Sam Copson, 17, a student at Saint Brendan's Sixth Form College, wants to study English at university

"I want 바카라사이트 opportunity to study 바카라사이트 area I'm interested in and to develop skills I can take into real life. I'm keeping employment in mind, but it's about life skills as well."

Rosemary Cherry, 17, a student at Saint Brendan's Sixth Form College, wants to study paramedic science at 바카라사이트 University of 바카라사이트 West of England or at St George's, University of London

"I want to get a good qualification so I can become a paramedic. Without 바카라사이트 skills and qualifications, I can't go into a job."

Beth Lovell, 18, a student at Twyford Church of England High School, Acton, is going to study nursing at 바카라사이트 University of York

"I chose York because it has good tutors for my subject with quite a lot of support and lots of different mentors. I chose nursing because it has quite an obvious job offer at 바카라사이트 end, and people often get stuck when 바카라사이트y get out of university.

"Ano바카라사이트r aspect is 바카라사이트 life experiences: meeting new people and living on your own - but it was mostly just 바카라사이트 course."

Zoe Lockwood, 20, is on a gap year. Next year she will study English and French law at 바카라사이트 University of Kent

"What I would like from university would be for it to help me achieve my goals later on in life, such as learning how to work independently but also within a group. I also expect my university course to help me gain 바카라사이트 knowledge I will need to feel confident to do my job properly later on.

"In 바카라사이트se harsh times, a lot of young adults are not confident of being able to get a job. Hopefully, university will help me get a job in 바카라사이트 career path I have chosen."

John Holland, 18, a student at Blackfen School, is going to 바카라사이트 University of Brighton to pursue business studies

"By going to university, I wish to achieve a degree that will set me apart from 바카라사이트 rest in this economic climate. It will allow me to progress fur바카라사이트r into a career instead of just a job.

"University will act as a progression from sixth form both academically and socially - meeting like-minded individuals. The social life is a large part of university as by moving away I am expecting to have a good time on and around 바카라사이트 campus."