The erosion of UK Higher Education: "Are Students Our Consumers?"
The erosion of UK Higher Education: "Are Students Our Consumers?"
Given the rapid growth of the higher education sector in UK and the challenges it has faced in the past two decades, the government recognizes that a more concise, economical, and efficient management system for higher education should be established. This system requires all relevant institutions to locate students at the core of higher education services and treat them as consumers of higher education. The government has repeatedly stressed that students spend money to receive education and they must feel that they gain "value for money." Students are involved in drawing up curriculum standards, quality assessment, and preparation of the syllabus. Such "student-centered" working philosophy, which is characterized by comprehensiveness, specialization and standardization, is deeply embedded in teaching, research, management, and student affairs. The current mainstream of world higher education development is market-based and student-centered. On one hand, the students' willingness to consume and their actions determine the direction of higher education development. On the other hand, "students as consumers" are slowly eroding the traditional ethos of the higher education system. Module marks become a kind of good that can be bargained for, and the essence of education is slowly changing.
Student consumer, Evaluation, Teaching Inspiration
59-64
Wang, Weisha
3b06920a-f578-41b8-a356-7e2da53d3bf6
Wang, Jindao
7d25bd32-42d7-49ab-bb78-f7d918b2b81f
Wang, Weisha
3b06920a-f578-41b8-a356-7e2da53d3bf6
Wang, Jindao
7d25bd32-42d7-49ab-bb78-f7d918b2b81f
Wang, Weisha and Wang, Jindao
(2018)
The erosion of UK Higher Education: "Are Students Our Consumers?".
Canadian Social Science, 14 (7), .
(doi:10.3968/10445).
Abstract
Given the rapid growth of the higher education sector in UK and the challenges it has faced in the past two decades, the government recognizes that a more concise, economical, and efficient management system for higher education should be established. This system requires all relevant institutions to locate students at the core of higher education services and treat them as consumers of higher education. The government has repeatedly stressed that students spend money to receive education and they must feel that they gain "value for money." Students are involved in drawing up curriculum standards, quality assessment, and preparation of the syllabus. Such "student-centered" working philosophy, which is characterized by comprehensiveness, specialization and standardization, is deeply embedded in teaching, research, management, and student affairs. The current mainstream of world higher education development is market-based and student-centered. On one hand, the students' willingness to consume and their actions determine the direction of higher education development. On the other hand, "students as consumers" are slowly eroding the traditional ethos of the higher education system. Module marks become a kind of good that can be bargained for, and the essence of education is slowly changing.
Text
10445-22948-1-PB
- Version of Record
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Accepted/In Press date: 26 June 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 26 July 2018
Keywords:
Student consumer, Evaluation, Teaching Inspiration
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Local EPrints ID: 424375
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/424375
ISSN: 1712-8056
PURE UUID: 2b0a2480-d7f7-416c-895c-872684ee83c6
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Date deposited: 05 Oct 2018 11:36
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 21:30
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Author:
Weisha Wang
Author:
Jindao Wang
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