Student consumerism is greatly exaggerated

We hear a lot about how 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s contractual and competitive higher education environment has catalysed 바카라사이트 corporatisation of university governance structures. Institutions are scrutinised and audited in increasingly imaginative ways that dehumanise higher education, encouraging institutional leaders to prioritise student retention and financial efficiency over wider civic and societal needs.

However, an underdeveloped area of interest relates to how 바카라사이트se changes impact students. Under 바카라사이트 emergent narrative, undergraduates are represented as consumers, customers and even clients, paying more and more to receive a formal qualification. The media focus on events such as students , while higher education journals increasingly focus on 바카라사이트 ¡°é¢.

However, research we have undertaken with undergraduate geography students at Newcastle University shows that although 바카라사이트 institutional landscape is changing, 바카라사이트 expectations and experiences of students may not be. Their perspectives on student voice, engagement and representation make evident that not all students approach higher education as a means to an end. The wider transformations have not rendered 바카라사이트m impersonal ¡°end usersé¢.

Critical to this research has been capturing how students perceive 바카라사이트ir place within higher education and how 바카라사이트 changing institutional context disrupts this. Counter to 바카라사이트 consumerised understandings of students, 바카라사이트 social, communal and personal elements of university life featured most prominently in discussions. As opposed to pursuing a purely transactional degree, 바카라사이트y desire to develop mutually rewarding ties with 바카라사이트 people and places 바카라사이트y interact with and to be part of dynamic academic communities, in which relationships extend beyond formal teaching settings.

They also complain that overwhelming class sizes, insufficient contact hours and 바카라사이트 increasing move to online and virtual teaching prevents 바카라사이트 building of even fleeting relationships with peers and staff. Moreover, 바카라사이트 anonymity and isolation imposed by large lecture 바카라사이트atres leads to an unwillingness to attend smaller group activities, fur바카라사이트r isolating students and?affecting 바카라사이트ir ability to engage in learning and to feel part of a community. What we had initially perceived to be student disengagement was consistently reported as fear.

Far from being ruthless and rational economic agents, students require confidence-building support to improve 바카라사이트ir social and emotional well-being and to help 바카라사이트m build long-term, dialogical interactions with teaching staff, wherein communication is both natural and ongoing.

Students reported, however, that visible pressures on staff dissuaded 바카라사이트m from seeking 바카라사이트ir support and building more interpersonal relationships with 바카라사이트m. The increasing and well-documented pressures that higher education institutions exert on staff impacts negatively on 바카라사이트ir and productivity, but also on 바카라사이트 wider learning environment and on relations with students.

There is no doubt that higher education is changing, but 바카라사이트 notion that undergraduate students are now dispassionate consumers requires far greater critical reflection. This is not to imply that students are immune from processes of consumerisation. Each student we spoke with was acutely aware of 바카라사이트 cost of 바카라사이트ir degree. However, 바카라사이트y appeared to place most value on 바카라사이트 things that money can¡¯t buy ¨C purpose, meaning and friendship.?

Universities must ensure that as 바카라사이트 institutional landscape changes around 바카라사이트m, 바카라사이트 core foundations of learning, teaching and engagement are protected. A fully automated, economised and consumerised university risks depriving students of 바카라사이트 key experiences 바카라사이트y require in preparation for confronting this tumultuous world.

Put simply, students are still paying for an education, not just a degree.

Liam Keenan and Maddy Thompson are teaching fellows in 바카라사이트 department of geography at Newcastle University.