Over the summer, we joined a consortium of 26 students’ unions across the country to fund and commission the largest research project to date on students’ views about what ‘teaching excellence’ means to them.
Higher Education is undergoing a lot of changes. The Office for Students is setting up shop, questions about tuition fees are being raised, and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) is firmly planting itself into the “value for money” sphere. But perhaps one of the most important developments so far have been the ongoing discussions surrounding what exactly constitutes teaching excellence.
That’s why, over the summer, the Students’ Union joined a consortium of 26 students’ unions across the country to fund and commission the largest research project to date on students’ views about what ‘teaching excellence’ means to them.
With around 9000 students taking part from 123 institutions (including Royal Holloway), what exactly did we get out of the report?
Well it turns out that there’s strong support from students for a formal exercise that assesses teaching excellence (84% agree) but less support for the gold/silver/bronze medal system that was suggested and strong opposition against any link to fees.
Your Vice President Education, Clem Jones commented on the report: “It’s clear that students nationally believe there should be some form of government exercise that encourages, and ultimately ensures, that there is high quality teaching taking place in UK universities – without linking such an exercise to tuition fees.
“I am looking forward to working with the College on ensuring that all students have equal access to education here at Royal Holloway, and that the education we provide is top notch.”
So what's next?
You can read the full report online now (don’t worry it’s only 15 pages) but what happens next? VP Education, Clem Jones, will be working with key stakeholders in College to take forward an action plan around some of the key findings.
Clem will be writing up the results of this in the next couple of weeks so keep your eyes peeled on the website and our social media channels.
In the meantime, if you want to find out more about what other work the Students’ Union is doing to represent your academic interests, check out the Academic Representation Review we’re in the middle of conducting.