Professor Mark TaylorDean, Warwick Business SchoolPro Vice-Chancellor, University of Warwick

Our Education and Student Experience

External Contexto The challenges ………………..o Higher student feeso Student satisfactiono Higher education seen as career progressiono Decrease in government HE funding alongside increased regulationo Widening access, widening participationo New providers entering the sectoro Global competitiono “The squeezed middle”o UK Border Agency controlso International collaborationo MOOCs & SPOCso REF and Rankingso …………… how to seize opportunities?

Spending Cuts19

50–5

1

1955

–56

1960

–61

1965

–66

1970

–71

1975

–76

1980

–81

1985

–86

1990

–91

1995

–96

2000

–01

2005

–06

2010

–11

2015

–16

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

Labour ConLib Historic

Annu

al p

erce

ntag

e re

al in

crea

se

Source: IFS / UUK

Changes in income of UK HEI’s

Cumulative real-terms actual and forecast changes in income of UK HEIs since 2010-11 (source: HEFCE 2014)

The New Public Management

o First Thatcher administration – ‘neoliberal managerialist’o Blair administration – ‘technocratic managerialist’o 1985 Jarratt Report o 1997 Dearing Report o 2010 Browne Reporto 2011 BIS white paper: Students at the Heart of the

System

‘Students at the Heart of the System’

o Discussed:• Student financial reforms• A “renewed focus on high-quality teaching”• A new focus on student charters, student

feedback and graduate outcomes• New regulatory framework with HEFCE taking on

“a major new role as a consumer champion”

‘Students at the Heart of the System’

o Aims of Government Policy:• Universities would be under competitive

pressure to provide better quality at lower cost• There would be a greater diversity of provision• Greater variety in terms of modes of delivery

and learning• More innovative teaching• Increased social mobility

The ‘student experience’o Increasingly, ‘institutional reputation’ has become

synonymous with rankings and league table performanceo Newspaper rankings, Guardian, Times etc o Reliant on data supplied via multiple sources including

the National Student Survey (NSS) – focussed on the ‘student experience’

o PTES – Postgraduate Taught Experience Surveyo Policy environment has led to the rise of the ‘student as

client/customer’

What do students say they want?

Source: National Union of Students (2008) NUS Student Experience Report

What do students say they want?

o Attainment of qualifications

o A high degree of employability and high earning potential upon completion of their degree

(Current) Students at the Heart of the Systemo Consumer model makes the student experience into something

determined by what the university offers rather than by what students can bring

o “…they [tutors] should tell us in the feedback, this is what you're missing, this is what you should do differently next time to get a first” (Warwick student survey)

o Feedback framed as an issue of assessment rather than of supporting and facilitating student learning

o Students’ see higher learning in terms of the successful navigation of assessment hurdles placed in their way by the university and a transfer of shared responsibility

(Current) Students at the Heart of the Systemo Universities are increasingly incentivised to provide what

students want, not what they needo Some students may want an Easy A, but need a good

educationo Potential to impact standards negatively o Ignores needs of other stakeholders, e.g.:

o Employerso Current students later in lifeo Society at large

(Current) Students at the Heart of the Systemo Student experience = joint responsibility of student and

HEIo HEI responsibility to provide

• Intellectual climate• Facilities• Teaching standards

o Student responsibility to• Actively engage in learning development (e.g. through active

engagement with feedback)

The Challenge

o Government policy puts student at the heart of the system

o May be to the detriment of other stakeholderso May be to the detriment of other elements of

the university offer

Unbundling of the university offer

o Knowledge productiono Knowledge disseminationo Student experienceo Signalling and accreditation

The essential dialectic of the universityo Origin of the university in late mediaeval Europeo Deriving from monastic tradition of scholarshipo The need to develop professional class of clergy, public

administrators, lawyers, physicians and business stewards as Europe emerged from the Dark Ages

o But also more purely intellectual in the elevation of learning as a means of human improvement as an essential part of the European Renaissance

Raphael’s “School of Athens”

Tomorrow’s University: Possible Futures

The Industrial Universityo Large-scale enrolmento National and global recruitmento Large online and blended eLearning agenda using and

adapting globally developed contento Largely a teaching institutiono Offering:

knowledge disseminationsignallingstudent experience (of a kind)

The Virtual Universityo Large-scale enrolmento National and global recruitmento 100% online eLearning agenda using and adapting

globally developed contento Largely a teaching institutiono Offering:

Knowledge disseminationSignallingVirtual student experience

o A variant of the Industrial University

The Elite Universityo Large but highly selective enrolmento Combination of on-campus and blended teaching and learningo Global partnerships and reacho Online content setting the international standard and licenced

for use by other universitieso World-class research base, both basic and appliedo Offering:

knowledge productionknowledge dissemination signalling student experience

The Regional Universityo Enrolment largely regional, with high number of students living

at homeo Largely on-campus teaching with some blended learningo Strong benefits to the local economyo Solid research base with emphasis on applications to the regional

economy and collaborative research with regional industryo Offering:

• knowledge production• knowledge dissemination• signalling• reduced student experience

The Boutique Universityo Small and selective enrolmento Teaching may be highly specialised and vocational (e.g. law,

business) or liberal artso Largely on-campus teaching with some blended learning

licenced from Elite University providerso Predominantly a teaching institutiono Offering:

knowledge disseminationsignallingstudent experience

The Non-University Universityo Students construct their own course of online study from

a range of sources, particularly for postgraduate courses MOOCs – certificates of completion Online accredited courses bought from Elite, Industrial and Virtual

Universities Non-university providers offering degree-level courses – e.g.

Financial Times non-executive director programmeo Offering:

knowledge dissemination (some) virtual student experience (some) signalling

Aristotle again…

…he is not actuallypointing down…

….. he is gesturing in three dimensions….

Thank you

Professor Mark TaylorDean, Warwick Business SchoolPro Vice-Chancellor, University of Warwick

Our Education and Student Experience