The difference between university and school

Today, the BBC reported that a recent survey had found that most university students today, whether from the state sector or from a private school, thought that the quality of the teaching at their university was worse than that of their school.

This is especially a concern now that fees are due to rise and students will be looking more closely at value for money. This is only common sense. After all, if you are painfully aware of the amount of money that something is costing you (even if you don't technically pay for it for a few years or so), then you will scrutinise the details more closely.

But complaints against teaching in universities are not always linked to cost. When I went to university, when the fees were nearer £1000 and all usually covered by the LEA anyway, there were still concerns among the students about the attitude of teaching staff and many students questioned their tutors' commitment to the course. I remember several complaints being made to the department when a lecturer failed to show for a lecture, or when they turned up late because they couldn't find the teaching lab. These things happen. Academics, particularly the really clever ones are not all known for their customer service or commercial nous. This has to change. Over the coming years, students will demand more. They will have sacrificed more to go to university, and have higher expectations for their £9,000 than universities are in a position to meet. However, while resources and teaching facilities cost money to bring up to the standard expected by more discerning students, customer service does not cost anything. Apologies from lecturers go a long way. Teaching staff learning where they are supposed to be and when does not cost anything.

Compromises also need to be made on the part of the student, or at least a compromise in attitude. A university is not school. That is the point. University is about grown-up, independent learning. University is not about being spoon-fed information for you to regurgitate in an exam. Academic staff are there to guide your learning, to give you the overview, to provide you with a list of recommended reading, and to suggest things to gen up on for the assessments. A more flexible approach to learning is needed, and this has to come from the student. The three years at university are a learning curve, and the first few months are about adapting to a new style of learning - hence why the first year of most university courses do not count towards your final grade. At university there is no register for lectures. It's up to you to turn up. At university you are given an essay title and a deadline. It's up to you to meet it.

Yes, we expect that if a lecture is billed as being at a certain place at a certain time then it will happen, and we should get an apology if it doesn't. Yes, we understand that sometimes things happen and the staff member has to bail at the last minute. In university there are no substitute teachers. We get that. Yet, staff need to understand the students' concern over value for money and make every effort to do things that don't cost money yet enhance the value-added.

However, teaching at university is fundamentally different to school with good reason. The teaching attitude is different because the staff are different, and the staff are different because its a different environment. I for one would not want university to be like school. School was stifling and full of people I didn't like much. University was liberating and full of people I wanted to be with. I am more than happy that university life and teaching, for all its faults, are different.