Teaching and research
Issues to consider:
There is a widespread public perception that university lecturers spend their time lecturing, but the reality is very different. For many academics, the challenges of research rather than teaching make higher education an attractive career, and some universities are funded far more as research than as teaching institutions. However, a distinctive feature of teaching in higher education is that it is carried out by those who are active in research in relevant fields. The dialogue between university teacher and student thus informs and is informed by cutting-edge research and scholarship. This dialogue makes university learning special for those involved in it.
Yet there are tensions caused by academics’ focus on research. Very few university staff have any kind of teaching qualification, and seek to maximise the amount of time they spend on research knowing that it is through success in this that they will advance their careers. A successful evaluation of a department’s research activity is also crucial for university funding, which can have a distorting effect on the allocation of academic staff time.
Meanwhile, students are increasingly demanding more contact time with lecturers and consistent quality of teaching. The introduction of fees has changed the relationship between students and university, as students increasingly view themselves as consumers of education.
Questions:
- Is it essential for all university teachers to be actively engaged in research or scholarship?
- Should the highest achieving research institutions be encouraged to move away from undergraduate teaching and focus more on postgraduate teaching and research?
- How has the introduction of tuition fees altered the relationship between students and their university?
- How should research quality be measured?
- Is it right to try to protect individual research excellence in institutions where the average research performance is relatively poor, or should some universities be encouraged to concentrate solely on teaching?
- Is there a need for more formalised training of university teachers?
May 19th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Education is an area from which the LibDems have traditionally drawn a lot of support but I do not see a coherent policy emanating from any of the main parties. We have more universities than ever before. We have more students in university than ever before and less resource and so the issue of overseas students is not just a little extra income but now a very necessary part of a university’s income. There is low morale with the lack of direction from government which seems to have abanadoned the higher education sector. Universities are now closely monitored and the most recent benchmarking exercise has been the RAE but if that has been ill considered it pales into insignificance alongside the REF which is a good case of ‘policy on the hoof’. No one objects to accountability but we need credible measures. We need to recognise also that there is more than one type of university and so we should reward those universities and departments within universities that are excellent at teaching alongside those that are excellent at research. We need quality institutions in order to build the society we leave to our children but this sector urgently needs a cash injection and a clear, coherent career structure. Anyone up for drafting a policy?